The Look Out
by The Duckster
Summary: Rose/Scorpius Romance - Rose is on look out for a family prank with Scorpius wanders by and stops to talk, When a professor starts to approach the only diversion she can think of is to snog the hell out of Scorpius. Only it goes much further then intended
1. Diversion

Author's Note: Anyone who follows my fics likely knows I'm not really one for long author's notes and shout outs. But this seriously never would have gotten written with the the lovely and talented CasaKitten who is my new fanfiction addiction.

The Look Out

Rose checked her watch for what may have been the millionth time in the past quarter of an hour. _'What is taking so long!' _She thought as she looked down at the parchment in her hands. The last update on the charmed scroll had been in Lily's handwriting. Lily was acting as chief mischief coordinator from the dormitories with the Marauders map.

This role the anal retentive, obsessive compulsive disorder-suffering girl took like a hippogriff to air.

_'Small delay, hold positions.'_ was all the tiny scrawl had said. So here she was, standing guard in the charms corridor instead of meeting her prefect patrol partner Hazel Finnegan; the Gryffindor prefect who she'd specifically finagled for tonight since she was fairly gullible, pitiably so. Thus making her need to stand guard for the traditional brood coming of age prank easier to accommodate. She watched the parchment as the tidy perfect script of Lily's quill appeared:

_'Rose, I've got two coming your way. Prefect at 5 o'clock and Professor Neville coming up the north stairs. Be on alert.' _

Rose gasped, hastily she shoved the parchment into her skirt pocket and bent down to lace her bright red trainers in a well practiced attempt at inconspicuous. She stayed crouched down tying and re tying the laces on her right shoe, praying simultaneously that the anonymous prefect would not show up, or at least have the courtesy to hurry up already as the hard stone floor wasn't comfortable against her bent knee. On her fifth retying she heard footsteps near.

Male, she guessed; mentally cataloging who it could be. Zeller and perhaps Wilkes would be the closest; just two floors down but she was drawing a blank on who was assigned to the Divination and Astronomy towers. It was possible that they might walk through here to avoid the diversion they'd convinced Peeves to pull on the 7th floor?

"Rose?" '_Oh shite!'_ She thought as her friend's familiar voice called down the echoing hallway. She stood up and pasted a wide smile on her face.

"Scorpius!" She called out a little too loudly. Her mind already racing with ways to get rid of him; it was so much harder to lie to a friend. It felt wrong, especially since Scorpius was regularly included in the pranks and jokes. This one though was traditionally a brood exclusive prank.

"Aren't you and Finnegan patrolling together?" He asked, looking around for her partner.

"Uhm… we are she is just- hey what about you and Bletchley?"

Suddenly remembering who was patrolling the towers tonight, Scorpius colored and rocked back on his heals while adjusting the collar of his sweater.

"We sort of have an agreement that," he paused in obvious discomfort. "Anytime one of us needs some alone time with female companion the other would discreetly cover for them. It's why we sign up together so often."

"So you two pairing up the whole time you were dating Summersby, no accident." This was a statement of fact not a question. She'd tried to sign up for to be his partner during those 6 weeks, wanting to have a chance to be alone with him, away from the suction cup lips that belonged to his girlfriend, but with no luck. A knot of disappointment grew in her chest at the knowledge that he'd been cozying up to _her_ in some broom cupboard somewhere.

Now completely distracted from her guarding responsibilities, the knot weighing heavily in her chest seemed to sink into her stomach. His cheeks flushed a deep scarlet and she suddenly felt sick as visions of him and his blonde bimbo tangled together in a secluded unused classroom assailed her.

"Yeah, something like that," he mumbled. Scorpius leaned one shoulder against the wall, avoiding her gaze. "So what made you ditch Finnegan? Are you plotting mayhem with the others or awaiting some handsome devil to snog in some empty broom cupboard?" the tone of his voice was casual as he asked, and it bothered her profusely that he was so content with the thought of her being with someone else. How pathetic was this crush getting? In her true emotionally stunted fashion she chose to joke and make light of her disappointment.

"Perhaps it's both. Can't a girl wreak havoc while awaiting for a snog from some dapper gentleman in a dark deserted corridor?" Rose asked, and cringed at once as she heard the overly flirtatious inflection. He raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing, leaving her quite unsure of his reaction. _'Dapper gentleman? Where the hell did that come from? Was the speech part of my brain possessed by some two hundred year old dandy of a poltergeist. Shite!'_ Her stomach flipped in desperate panic.

"I didn't mean to imply the actions had to be mutually exclusive." He answered with a smirk, at which she felt her stomach flutter. Why did he have to be some dreamy? It was almost a cliché how good looking and charming he was. Like he was some all too perfect heroes you'd find in one of the trashy romance novels her mother stashed away from prying eyes, safely located behind the more _'impressive'_ books in their study at home.

"Well I'll have you know I'm a woman of many talents." Rose fought to keep her tone relaxed and not breathless from his close proximity. He stood straight again and stepped towards her with a mischievous grin on his face. The intoxicating scent of cashmere and vanilla wafted to her nostrils, and she inhaled deeply, savoring the rich aroma that was distinctly Scorpius.

Rose flushed darkly as she realized how blatantly obvious she was being; at his grin that broadened at her reaction. She supposed she should have been used to the smell, and certainly not caught off guard; as she often had to endure the nasal assault. For months on end, she had agonized over pinpointing the smell.

It had been on a walk back from the Quidditch pitch; an evening so cold it prompted Scorpius to offer her his sweater. That night, she slept in it, and reveled in being engulfed in its—_his_ aromatic presence. She still had that sweater, sitting in her trunk at the foot of her bed. She'd tried to give it back to him when they'd parted ways that evening but he'd told her to keep it. Surely he'd meant just for that night, but Rose found other cold nights in need of its particular brand of warmth, and kept it.

"Let me guess, you secretly juggle little baby geese or perhaps are hiding a penitent for underwater basket weaving?" His eyes were dancing with merriment and she couldn't hold back a small chuckle.

"Yes, those are two of my particularly fantastic abilities. Also I can tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue." Rose blushed as she recalled the summer afternoon at the burrow with her cousins. Victoire told them this meant you were a good kisser and they'd spent the next hour under a cherry tree practicing.

Footsteps echoed towards them from far down the corridor, heavily landing on the stairs leading up to them. Her mind snapped back to the task at hand.

"Quick, go away!" Rose began shoving Scorpius in the direction he came from.

"What? We're just patrolling, in fact we'll be in more trouble if we're each caught alone. We should stick together." She sighed as she was defeated by his logic. She looked around her nervously. This was all supposed to have been done 10 minutes ago! She didn't have a plan for keeping a professor out of the fall zone. She had a story about a dung bomb down the way if any students had come by, but this was no good; in the note Lily had said it was Professor Longbottom. Unlike students, who would cover their noses in distaste, and take another route with no questions asked, the Professor was obligated to go investigate.

Rose looked at a confused Scorpius as the echoing footsteps drew nearer, continuing up the stairs toward her designated look out spot. She had to think of something! The whole tradition could stand in ruin if they were caught. There was only one option coming to mind, and she knew it likely was a terrible idea that could jeopardize everything between them. She squared her shoulders, gathering the courage to do what she was planning.

"I'd like to apologize before hand for what I'm about to do." She stepped toward him reluctantly.

"Why? What are you about to do to me?" He asked with a smirk. She took another step towards him.

"I mean this in the most platonic way possible Scorpius."_ 'And if there was ever a moment I am lying it would be now.' _With her third step toward him, his calm relaxed demeanor changed, replaced by more confusion.

"What do you mean? Rose, what are you thinking?" She could see his adams apple bob as he swallowed his panic. He stepped backwards with her forth step but she was still closing the distance between them.

"I am just following your lead."

He stepped back again his shoulders hitting the wall. Scorpius's eyes grew wide as he ran out of places to go. "You said it was one or the other right? Scheming or snogging, so if I'm really plotting something but don't want it to look that way, then I have to make it look like the only other reasonable option."

She stood up on her tiptoes and leaned into him, although she was still several inches shy of her intended destination. Rose sighed in frustration but Scorpius only froze in his spot, seemingly rooted to the floor. She reached her hand up, the footsteps were no longer on stairs; they were coming steadily down the corridor. Rose slowly curled her fingers into the hair at the base of the neck, pulling him towards her.

His eyes were a pale gray in the soft light; she noticed the small scar above his eyebrow and for the hundredth time wondered how he'd gotten it. It sliced into his eyebrow slightly but instead of disfiguring she'd always found it rather alluring; a bit of mystery behind the blonde fringe constantly gracing his forehead.

As she pulled him closer; still he kept up his status of non-interaction and she felt the sudden urge to smack him. Rose watched him earnestly as she placed her other hand on his chest before gazing into his eyes through her long auburn lashes.

"Please." She whispered softly, for a moment forgetting about the foot falls landing steadily closer. He broke her gaze after a long moment, his cheeks tinting softly with the lightest of pinks.

"Alright," Is all he responded, still refusing to look her in the eye. He licked his lips in what was likely an unconscious movement as he placed one hand around her waist.

Through the hand placed on his chest she could feel his heart accelerate and it thrilled her for a moment that she was getting any sort of physical reaction out of him.

He leaned down towards her slowly, keeping his eyes focused away from her. The hand at her waist flexed open before closing tighter. He was hovering just above her, and her mind screamed at her that this was a horrible idea. She didn't want him this way, there was no way in the world she could manage her affection for him if she actually knew what his lips tasted like, what they felt like moving beneath her own.

Then he looked at her, in that fraction of a moment before they touched, as he looked at her, into her, she felt peace. Her mind forgot all the fear, the trepidation she felt, and the omnipresent worry was a stranger to her then. In his eyes she found herself lost in just the tranquility of him. Then she closed her eyes and waited. Time seemed to stretch out for eternity as she stood there waiting... and then it was bliss.

His lips were soft and warm, still moist from when he'd licked them just moments before. She held her lips still, unsure of how far it was prudent to let this moment go. Just the position they were in now was enough to explain their presence. They wouldn't be the first prefects to take a moment out during rounds. But Rose couldn't just stand there like that, she'd dreamed of what it would feel like to be in the exact moment and she'd be cursing herself for the rest of her life if she didn't do something with it.

She moved her lips fractionally, to gauge his response. To her immense relief he moved too, much larger of an action then she did, she suddenly found her lip being pulled slightly in between his lips. Never in her short life had Rose felt weak in the knees, always assuming it was some trite saying that wasn't meant to be taken literally, but in that moment Rose knew she was mistake. She felt herself teeter slightly as his mouth moved again, this time sucking on her lip a little more and feeling the faintest hit of his tongue as he kissed her.

His other hand wrapped around her waist and she knew she was no longer the sole support for her body weight. Being in his arms like that, she felt dainty and protected. She almost kicked herself for how girly it was, though she still couldn't resist reveling in the feeling. His kiss made her feel like a woman, and when she moved her lips against him, mimicking his movements he let out a soft moan that made her think that maybe this kiss was making him feel her like a woman too.

Scorpius was slow and methodical, as though he was memorizing her, which was exactly was she was doing to him. She ran her tongue softly along his lip, curious as to how he tasted as well as how he'd react. She felt his lips curve into a smile at her movements and her heart swelled with in her chest. He was enjoying this. No matter what the motivation that got them there, they were there and he liked it.

He hunched toward her more, relieving the ache she hadn't realized she'd developed in the arches of her feet from standing on her tiptoes for so long. Then as she pulled his lower lip into her own mouth, kneading it gently, something in him seemed to snap. His kisses were suddenly more intense, his hold on her became vice like as he pulled her against him.

They stood like that for a long moment, passionately kissing with her body pressed against his. In that time her body became aware of an obvious thickness pressed between them. She couldn't be sure if it had been there the whole time or had just developed as they progressed in the moment but once she was conscious of its existence she was having trouble thinking of anything else.

Never before had she been in this position, any kisses she's shared up to now had been fairly chaste and didn't include full body contact. Then there it was, as she stood sharing a self-proclaimed 'platonic' kiss with one of her best friends she could feel one for the first time.

Her mind mulled over the possible things she should be feeling right now. When she'd heard the girls in the dorm talk about situations like this she'd been sure it was pretty gross to have your boyfriends sex organ, hard and evident against your pelvic bone but now that she was in that moment for herself she found it intoxicating.

It was the typical response to this situation, and she knew that but all the same this was Scorpius's reaction to Rose. In that moment and she found herself aching with lust as that realization ran through her. He wanted her. On some level, in some way he wanted her. It would change everything forever because no matter how he'd seen her before, he would always know in the back of his head that she was a woman. One that he had held and touched in that way you don't hold 'just friends'.

His lips broke their contact and she let out a small noise in protest; which quickly turned into a low moan when he moved his lips along her jaw. She moved her hand from his chest so that both hands now held possessively onto his neck, holding him against her throat as he moved. In an instinctual movement she adjusted her body against him, attempting to alleviate the ache that was building in her.

She felt his breath hitch against her skin and she smiled to herself. He liked that. _'Is it dirty that I enjoyed that he liked that?' _Then she lost her train of thought as he began to suck the hollow of her throat, sending shivers down the entire side of the body. She'd wondered in the past about the appeal of those 'love bites' Becky was always sporting, asking her what could be worth such embarrassing and territorial marks.

Now she knew, she about lost herself in his ministrations as she discovered exactly what the appeal in those deep red blemishes she knew she'd have to ask the specific glamour charm used to cover them. Her mind was suddenly brought back to the present by a distant voice.

It was Professor Longbottom, still far away it sounded like he was engaging one of the portraits in a conversation. As this brought her mind back to semi coherent thought she realized Scorpius's hands at some point had moved southward and were now gripping her arse tightly. His one large hand squeezing her rhythmically while the other ran its menadering way along her hip.

She loved the feel of him, all of him. Every fraction of this moment, his tongue slowly running circles below her ear, his hardened member pressed between them, his hands supporting and cupping her body in a way she wanted to remember as long as she lived. With a sudden start she realized he probably wasn't enjoying this as much as she was. All she seemed capable of doing was loll her head back and moan in pleasure.

She pulled away from him slightly, forcing him to meet her gaze. His eyes were dark and intense. She felt her stomach flutter under his gaze. Rose smiled in a way that she could only pray was seductive before moving her lips against his throat. His skin against her lips was slightly salty and she found herself pulling it into her mouth, kneading it with her tongue.

Scorpius had always been difficult for her to get a read on, the dry witty sense of humor so different than her loud and silly side. Always standing back while she jumped forward, he wasn't by any means shy, just a more cautious person who in turn avoided humiliation at a frequency much higher than Rose did. So his vivid response to her touch caught her off guard. He rested his head on the wall behind him as she moved, his heavy breath tickling the skin beside her ear.

"Holy mother of Merlin!" He mumbled softly, to her or the empty abyss around them she didn't know but she thrived on it. Suddenly becoming more emboldened in her actions, raking her hands roughly in his hair, sucking his earlobe and rolling it between her teeth. A sharp hiss escaped his lips as she did this and she was roughly thrown off her balance as he lifted her body, holding her backside firmly in his arms.

As he stepped forward she instinctually wrapped her legs around his waist, both for support in her now shifting balance and her body's desire to press against him. He turned them with a grace Rose knew she would never be capable of and suddenly she was the one pressed against the cold stone wall with his weight holding her up. He brought his lips back to hers and it was like her mind split at that moment.

Part of her was clutched in his arms, feeling his lips against hers, his teeth taking her lip between them and pulling across her plump flesh. Fully engrossed in every sensation that was washing over her, but then there was another part of her. A part of her that knew this couldn't be real. The overly rational part the irrational part wanted to shut up and just enjoy the moment. This blissful moment she very likely would never have again, but the rational part couldn't be quieted.

It was nudging her to not get too carried away, because while it might be causing his body to react, oh yes even her rational side had to acknowledge the firm solid mass slowly grinding against her rapidly moistening center. That was all it was to him though, a snog in a corridor. Not just that, a diversion tactic she'd had to plead with him to comply to.

The rational part of her forced the image of him, fearful eyes and stepping backwards at the thought of her doing this. Scorpius hadn't wanted this from her. Rose who was his 'best pal', Rose who he'd asked dating advice from, Rose who he'd laughed when she'd been forced into admitting a small crush on Alan Cootes by her relentless cousin. He hadn't wanted her in this way, hadn't seen her in this way.

Above all, the rational side was screaming at her, desperately warning her not to get too attached because this would never happen again. All the while knowing it was a lost cause, because the irrational side, the part of her that was saturating itself in the lust and passion of this moment was already imagining itself outside this brief encounter. To holding hands as they walk to class together, to moonlit broom rides with his arms wrapped around her and to hours of being together in the shade of the beech tree they so often studied under.

Rose was foolishly picturing what it would be like to indulge in all those fantasies she'd built around him. Lazy summer afternoons together out in the pond behind her house, stolen kisses in the library. She wanted all of it now. Now that she knew how right it felt to have him holding her like this. How perfectly entwined their bodies fit. She wanted to feel his soft lips again and again and every day after that. She fought that smart and self preserving part of her back, willing her brain to ignore it and wholly focusing on this exact moment and how it felt.

She methodically began to memorize; his familiar scent wafting over her; cashmere, vanilla and now musky from the current activity, his hand cupping her arse, still kneading it in a harmonious rhythm with the hand he'd slipped under the folds of her sweater and cotton Henley shirt. The feel of his soft yet roughened hands making its way along her bare skin sent a wave of shivers down her body. His firm sex pressing against the base of her parted thighs. His movements of rocking against her were unlike anything she'd ever felt before. An unfamiliar fuzzy feeling began to engulf part of her body, her chest was tight, her toes curled inside her trainers causing her to tighten her hold around his hips.

Before she was even finished cataloging this entirely she was awakened by an unexpected reality, she was building to something. His movements weren't as painfully slow and her own traitorous body was moving to helping things along. She broke their kiss and buried her head into his neck, his lips once again devouring her neck but not in the same way as before.

It was no long the slow studied caresses he'd languished upon her earlier, now they were a frenzy of his kisses and nibbles that seemed more of a preoccupation of his lips versus where his concentration was focused. Rose was panting heavily into the collar of his neck and wished the evidence of what he was doing to her wasn't quite so obvious.

"Scorpius," she heard herself mummer through gasping breaths before her whole body shuttered. Reflexively her head was thrown back as her back arched and her thighs tightened their hold on him. Her center throbbing with its ecstasy as her lungs took in heaving breaths to steady the onslaught of what had just happened to her.

Rose's closed eyes focused on the darkness in front of her as she settled back into reality. She took in where she was, how she was being held and Scorpius's now frozen stance._ 'Shit' _she thought over and over again. She had just climaxed during her 'strictly platonic' distraction kiss, and as much as Scorpius may have physically responded to her, surely neither of them had expected it to drive them toward sexual completion.

Humiliation filled her and the irrational side of her retreated to the pressings of her self-reserving rational side. She pressed her forehead against his, still unable to open her eyes and face what surely would be a horrified expression.

"Scorpius I-" but neither of them were ever able to find out exactly what Rose was as a loud clearing of the throat from several meters off startled them back into reality. They both visibly startled, causing him to jump away from her and lucky she was able to find her feet before she landed on her behind.

How the hell did she let things get that far when she knew Professor Longbottom was on his way toward them? That had been the whole reason behind it after all, a diversion from what she'd really been up to. Playing look out for a large scale coordinated prank. Standing there staring at the parchment waiting for Lily's instructions seemed like a lifetime ago. So much had happened since then, too much.

It was Rose who was able to speak first, blushing a deep tomato red as she smoothed her skirt.

"Uncle Nev- I mean Professor Longbottom, how are you tonight?" She winced at her mistake. She hadn't accidentally called him Uncle Neville in years, it just showed how out of sorts she was. He responded while she fixed her gaze furiously onto the floor.

"Obviously not as well as the two of you."

_'Oh merlin's balls, this is awful.'_ she thought, realizing she'd just been caught having an orgasm by a man who'd been there for every major holiday of her life_. 'Shit'_ she cursed internally. He was going to tell her parents! Her dad would kill her! No, worse! Her dad would break down into tears at his little girl engaging in such lewd behavior and then he would kill Scorpius. It didn't matter that she'd been the one to initiate it, her father would kill the man attached to the engorged cock she'd dry humped into satisfaction.

"Just finishing up our prefect rounds, sir." Scorpius's mumbled, tugging at the neck of his sweater as he rocked back on his heels.

"Indeed." Professor Longbottom muttered. Rose chanced a glance up and saw he was bright red and realized he was quite possibly as embarrassed as they were. She knew Neville, she'd over heard him saying last Christmas how the least favorite part of his job was coming across exactly what he's just stumbled across. So she decided to skip all the bull and ask what was really on her mind.

"Are you going to tell my parents?" Rose asked, her voice a plea more accurately asking he do the exact opposite. She watched Neville sigh as he folded his arms across his chest.

"I hate it when you kids put me in this spot, Rosie," Rosie! He **never** called her that in school so at least she knew he was leveling with her. It was a few long moments before he spoke again, the whole time her eyes pleading with him to understand.

"You know the deal, if it's not something I'd write about to someone else's parents about it's not something I'll write home about to yours. I made that deal with all your parents when I started this job, years before you were even attending Hogwarts. Though I doubt Ron will be happy when he learns I didn't write him about this. It very well might be me who gets the howler and not you."

Rose smiled brightly and threw her arms around Neville.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. Uncle Neville you're the best."

"Professor Longbottom, Uncle Neville would certainly have to write to your parents about this, er- development. Though that doesn't get you out of your punishment though, both of you will lose 10 points and you'll be serving detention tomorrow night at 7 with me in green house 3." From the sound of his voice she knew he was trying his best to be the firm and authoritative teacher and not the bumbling Uncle who'd helped her prank her older cousins when they were ganging up on her and Al.

She stepped back, willing to play the student to his Professor routine if it meant not having this reported to her parents.

"Yes Sir, I understand completely Professor and we shall be there at 7 o'clock sharp." Rose said, as she straightened her shoulders. They both fixed their eyes on Scorpius, who up until now could have been mute for all the talking he'd been doing.

"Yes of course Sir, green house 3 at 7 o'clock." He said nodding vigorously, obviously pleased at not having Mr. Weasley, a high-ranking Auror out and ready to hex his balls off.

The older man began to step back in the direction he came from before he stopped and turned back to Rose.

"This isn't something to throw me off the trail now is it?" He asked; one eyebrow cocked up. Rose fought to keep her face free from any of the panic she felt fluttering in her stomach.

"The trail, Sir?" She answered back with a question, adding the 'Sir' for good measure.

"It's Albus's birthday tomorrow, and it seems that whenever one of 'the brood' comes of age there is a prank of epic proportions played with that birthday individual having a clear and irrefutable alibi for the time in question. Rose widened her eyes, pushing back the devilish smile that was fighting to creep onto her face.

"Coincidence I'm sure Professor."

"Yes, of course." He said with a small smile before turning around and heading back towards the stairs.

Rose let out a long sigh of relief as she collapsed against the wall leaning her head back.

"That could have definitely gone worse." Then her eyes met Scorpius's intense gaze and the realization of how that could have meant washed over her. "That is to say, I don't think either of us wanted a howler tomorrow about getting caught snogging." She hesitated a little at the words, she wanted to talk to him about what had happened but hadn't the slightest idea on what to say.

It was entirely too distracting the way he was looking at her. His eyes were dark and fixed on her, she watched as his eyes racked over her body, his eyes spoke of sex and passion. It hit her that her post-climactic high had been interrupted but he must still be unsatisfied. She couldn't keep her eyes from glancing downward and when they did she found he was still in the same predicament at before.

The thought taunted her, could she cross the few steps between them and press him against the wall behind him, once again having him devour her with his desire? Could she do that now that there was no pretense to protect her from the possible rejection? Was she willing to cross that now blurred line of friendship to satisfy the ache her heart and body were feeling at not still being pressed against him?

She had to say something, to gauge his response, and to possibly save herself from further humiliation if this hadn't affected him the same as her.

"Especially since it was just a meaningless distraction kiss, to keep him from catching Fred and James setting everything up for tomorrow." She said slowly, careful to make her voice sound light and uncaring, not wanting to admit how much it had meant to her.

"Yeah, just a distraction, of course." Scorpius answered a little dazedly as he leaned against the wall across from her. His eyes finally broke their connection with hers.

Her heart sank as he put up no arguments to her statement. I had just been a diversion, nothing more, nothing less. He probably wouldn't even give it another seconds thought.

That rational part of her brain was saying 'I told you so' while it picked up the pieces of the shattered irrational parts dreams. Sweeping the jagged shards into a corner so as to avoid the pointed edged in his presence. That could wait until later, she could lay in her bed tonight going over that broken dreams and live in the momentary world of 'what if', but not now, not with him standing there. Not with the evidence so clear that it had merely been an uncontrollable physical reaction for him.

She pulled her parchment back out of her pocket and unfolded it to find the words 'All clear' written in place of the earlier messages. She waved the paper vaguely toward him.

"It's all clear to head back, I guess they're done with all the prep work."

"Good, that's good." He murmured before they both turned and headed in the direction of Ravenclaw tower.


	2. Platonic

Author's notes: Alright I only putting this up with the warning that I make no guarantees about finishing it as some long chaptered fic. I wrote the first chapter merely as a challenge to see if I could actually write a kiss. If you've read my stuff you'll know I'm the almost kissing throw your shoe at the screen because it came that close but didn't work sort of fan fic writer.

TONS of reviews about wanting a sequel and since this was actually written as part of it before I ever posted chapter one but decided the one shot had to end there. I do have a plan and a plot for moving this story forward but I felt like posting this since I don't know if I'll ever finish it. It's not a terrible cliff hanger or anything. It's just Scorpius's reaction to the events. So there you go. But if I never end up doing a massive multi chapter fic, don't throw rocks alright! Just review and tell me if you like it. Because I'll only know to post more if you tell me. Otherwise I will stick to my mild mannered normal job. Woot!

Platonic

He'd accepted long ago that being friends with Rose came with a price. Her friendship meant burying thoughts and impulses, ignoring emotions and resisting any urge to beat who ever she was dating or was flirting with her to a pulp. They were friends and had been for over a year now, he wasn't willing to go back to the way life was before Rose. That's how he saw his life, before Rose and after Rose.

Before Rose he'd been passed over and ignored. Completely friendless and lonely. It had been like the first rays of morning sun warming up the earth when Rose had befriended him. His world had changed entirely. People who he'd lived with and gone to school with but had been unnoticed by were suddenly being introduced a new to him as 'Rose's friend Scorpius' and so his life had truly begun.

They'd fought once, briefly at the end of last year and it had been torture to go back to the loneliness of before. The root of their fight, he had let his feelings for Rose rule his actions and it had cost him dearly, it had cost him her. So he'd vowed to bury it all. Talk to her as if he didn't see her as the most beautiful creature ever to walk the earth, be around her as if her touch didn't light him on fire and one day watch helplessly from the sidelines as she fell in love with someone else. He would be her pal, her best friend and confidant. It was torture at times, but it was a far sweeter torture then living without her in his life.

It had become routine at some point along the way. He'd floo'd over during the summer, spent hours with her and her cousins just being young and lacking responsibilities. Their sixth year had started and he found himself no longer 'Rose's friend Scorpius', instead he was simply 'our friend Scorpius' and he found himself settling into his after Rose existence fairly well.

There had been hiccup's now and again, some larger then others. He often found himself staring at her, wondering if her hair was as soft as it looked. The worst though had been mere weeks ago, he'd been alone with his girlfriend of about a month and a half, kissing and such, when things progress more then it ever had before.

It was dark and without realizing it, auburn curls had replaced the blonde straight hair and in the heat of the moment he whispered 'Rose', abruptly ending any activities with Cecilia Summersby. She'd cried, not that he could blame her. If she'd lovingly dropped another man's name from her lips he'd have been crushed.

He stayed with her while she cried and said he was sorry the whole time. Then she asked it, _the_ question he'd prayed she wouldn't.

"It was always her wasn't it?" Cecilia had looked up at him with her large blue eyes and they both knew the answer before he nodded in affirmation. She'd surprised him when her reaction had been a small smile. "I think I always knew that, she walked into a room and I could just tell ya know. The way you watch her, how you move so you can always see her."

Had he been that obvious? Scorpius had thought he was doing so well to. Perhaps it was just her way of coping he told himself, knowing that too was a lie. He did watch her, he did shift in his seat so he could see her better. In that moment of quiet seclusion with a perfectly lovely girl he was trying his hardest to fall for, he'd found himself unable to resist the temptation. The darkness offered him Rose, if only in his mind and if only for a moment and he'd unknowingly taken it time and time again until it was all to easy to let her name fall from his lips.

That had been his biggest mistake, until tonight. Tonight he'd given in to everything he wanted. He'd given in to her wide brown eyes and her full red lips begging him with a quiet and simple _'please'_. That was all it had taken, he'd put up such a small fight because despite knowing it would be a most terrible mistake; he wanted it. Much more than he should he wanted to give her exactly what she asked for.

No, not exactly what she asked for. She'd said it would be_ 'platonic' _and that he knew he could never provide. Pressing his lips to hers had been the single most wonderful moment of his life and when she moved her lips she moved his world. His carefully constructed walls of denial came tumbling to the ground as she twisted his hair in her hands and pulled her body closer to him.

He moved his feet in a trance like state. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right. His mind preoccupied to pull him out of his blissful analyzing of the moments he'd painstakingly committed to memory, reviewing them before they were a blur. Her scent he already knew, citrus and soap, but it was so different, stronger and sexier when he'd been nibbling along her neck and kissing her throat. He didn't think he'd ever be able to smell her with out flashing back to those moments.

They say that scent is the strongest trigger for memories, would the stray wafting aroma of oranges still cause him to relive that moment years later? He hoped so. He hoped with every part of him that he would always easily recall the scent of her supple skin as he buried his face into the crook of her neck.

Her lips tasted like the chap stick she used. The chap stick he'd watched her glide over her lips a thousand times, a unknowing sirens seductive call. It drove him crazy and he's had more than one fantasy about rolling her freshly applied lips between his own, curious about what he was missing.

Scorpius asked to borrow it once on the pretense of the cold wind drying out his skin. He'd spent the entire Herbology class that followed pressing his lips together, rubbing them back and forth, unable to resist the thought that this would be what kissing her would taste like. He'd been right, it had.

The part that killed him as he reminisced though, was how responsive she was to his touch. She'd moaned softly, delicately almost and her breath hitched suddenly at his touch. Her nails raked through his hair and down his neck. Her thighs tightening around his body as he ground into her, reflexively at first but as she moved with him he found himself unwilling to come to his senses and stop his movement. She had gasped his name, softly in his ear, like an angelic prayer so sweet the intonation before she came undone.

She had come undone.

He knew he would never forget, he would prize it above all others. If he had a pensive he would pour that moment in and watch it a hundred thousand times and he didn't think it would ever get blasé. The expression on her face tortured with pleasure in the most erotic way imaginable. The line in her forehead, the way her lips parted slightly with her tongue pressed against her teeth. He'd had no idea she'd been so close, never had it crossed his mind he could do that to her. He'd just thought it had been him enjoying the feel of it, not even bothering to think about what his grinding was doing to her. He'd been in shock when he'd cottoned on to what was happening and then he watched Rose have an orgasm.

He calculated the distance between his throbbing hard cock and her moistened center in that moment. His underwear, his pants, her pants... no that's not right, Rose doesn't ever wear pants. She wears skirts at all times. He'd asked Al about it once and he'd told him about her getting called 'one of the guys' summer before her 4th year and she sort of flipped out. She'd gone shopping with her mom and refused to put on jeans since. So with her legs wrapped around him that meant it must have just been her knickers.

Merlin's saggy left nugget he'd been a mere three layers away from sexual intercourse with Rose. Three thin easily vanishable layers of cotton was all that had kept him from fulfilling every wet dream he'd had since the beginning of fifth year.

Never had he gone that far with a girl. Cecelia had been his first girlfriend and he'd just had his hand under her shirt for the first time when he'd said Rose's name. How was it that he'd gone further then he ever had before after just a few minutes with Rose. He hadn't even meant to either, he'd just lost himself in a moment and when he came back to reality he'd just done things. Wonderful and amazing things but still things he hadn't planned or anticipated. Prayed for and would treasure forever, but hadn't even dared to imagine as a realistic possibility.

It had been so easy under the guise of a diversion. She didn't need to know that he'd been wanting to do all these things.

"Scorpius" Rose's voice cut through the fog he'd been drifting in. From the look on her face he was guessing it had taken her a while to get his attention.

"Huh?"

"I was just saying thank you, ya know for saving my arse back there." Her arse, her round shapely arse that fit perfectly in his cupped hand.

"Yeah no problem." _'Infact I'd like to save your arse again sometime, would you care to join me in that empty classroom over there for some more delicious arse saving say- right now?'_ He found it difficult to drag his thoughts away from the encounter just minutes ago in the charms corridor.

"I feel just awful though," _'I don't'_ his mind interrupted. "To get detention for helping out a friend I mean that's just above and beyond. Thank you Scorp. Really you're amazing." _'Amazing, you want to know what's amazing, you saying my name as you came. That was amazing.' _

A dozen different things ran through his mind as possible responses. Instead he just shrugged and kept walking.

"I mean not every friend would do that ya know. Some might think it could be strange to share a kiss with a friend but not you and me right?" she punched him playfully in the arm. "We're still best pals, nothing at all. Just two friends sharing a snog, purely psychical reactions right. No reason at all for there to be awkwardness between us." She said brightly, gesturing animatedly with her hands.

Was she seriously apologizing to him for the most erotic moment of his young life? Where does she get off acting like that it was no big deal? All he wanted to do was push her against the wall and have his way with her and she was blathering on and on about being _'pals'_. He suddenly wanted to vomit.

"Yeah." he said feebly, trying to get a grip on the mix of hormones and emotion coursing through him. He was still horny as hell, his pants uncomfortable and his hands itching to touch her again. His fingertips tingled at the memory of the smooth skin of her stomach, a desperate ache awakened inside of him when he first curved his hand to her flesh and he knew it would be impossible to make it lye dormant again.

Then there was the anger and annoyance that was suddenly beginning to flood him. She was talking again and he did his best to shut her out, not wanting to hear her happily go on and on while his heart broke. Each step they took made him angrier, each syllable she uttered annoyed him further until it was all he could do to keep from screaming.

"Alright I get it, platonic kissing we excel at." He hadn't even bothered to soften his tone from the short clipped one that he knew would come out. His insides felt like jagged bits of glass poking at him from every direction and it was too much. Too much ecstasy, too much eroticism, too much disappointment, too much heartache.

He was saved from the humiliating walk of shame only when they reached the eagle head knocker marking the entrance to Ravenclaw tower. Thankfully Rose dealt with answering the question because he just didn't think he could deal with that in his current state of mind.

He didn't bother to say goodbye, he just rushed towards the boys staircase with out a glance back at her. Anger over powered arousal as he stormed up the stairs.

"How dare she!" he muttered to himself under his breath as he slammed the door of the dormitory behind him.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Wow, might I just say that reaction was quite unexpected. It's great to know you all liked it, though I will take this moment to say thank you for the overwhelming support for that last chapter NOT being the last one. I will update as I can, I do work full time and then come home and work more, oh and then there is the whole I am the mother of two thing... so it's won't be some consistent new chapter every week thing. But I'll work on it when I can.

This chapter is considerably longer then I meant it to be, but I just loved having the family interaction and so I just let them go on a bit. I tried to make it relevant but mostly I just wanted to show they are family and bicker like real families do. I hate it when the cousins are all super awesome best friends who never fight. I just think "Were you raised an only child?" So here you go. In the last chapter I told you to review if you wanted more, so uhm yeah I definitely got people doing that. Could you tell me your favorite line from this one, or specific moment? Enjoy :)

Decisions

Sleep had been a fleeting fantasy as Scorpius lay in bed the previous night. All he wanted was to close his eyes and block out Rose's words to him.

_'We're still best pals, nothing at all. Just two friends sharing a snog, purely physical reactions right.'_

Instead frustration festered inside of him, _purely physical_. It had certainly been physical yes but to him it had been so much more. It had been joy and bliss and the fulfillment of every fantasy, alright not every fantasy, hell not even half of them. But it was the hope that they could be filled someday. That kiss had invoked the possibility of dream fulfillment. Was that worse then the knowledge he hadn't a hope in the world of garnering her affections?

There would be no footsies under the library table as they pretended to study, no snuggling with her by the common room fire with a book. The kiss of a gentle blush coloring her cheeks as she read a love letter he wrote her. All of the innocent moments he'd dreamed up to share with her would never happen because it was all purely a natural physical reaction that two people have when they're snogging senseless as a diversion tactic.

If you'd asked him the previous morning if he could choose between never having Rose and guessing at what he was missing or having one blissful quarter of an hour spent ravishing her against a wall fully clothed and knowing for the rest of his life he'd never get another moment like that. He didn't have a slightest doubt he'd have picked Rose. Touching Rose, smelling Rose, tasting Rose, it would have been worth anything to have that right?

This though, staring into the blank abyss of his bed hangings after a night of chasing sleep with the ghosts of her touch haunting his skin was maddening. To know the feel of her soft flesh burning into his mind. The taste of her salty skin branded onto his tongue. The shape his hand took as it cupped her backside, kneading it gently or the sound of he soft mewing moans, it was all a part of him now. He would have that knowledge ingrained in him forever. A treasured blessing and a terrible curse all rolled into a single ball of arousing memory.

It was early still but by the repetitious glances at his watch he knew it was morning. He got out of bed then after a long hot shower and some enthusiastic broom polishing he found himself wandering into an almost deserted great hall. He was resolved to sit and pick at his breakfast in his own solitary melancholy when a head of unkempt dark hair diverted his attention. Al was his closest friend besides Rose and thought that perhaps it was time to get a voice of reason to weigh in on the subject of his unrequited affections.

"You're up early." Al called out with a smile when he noticed Scorpius approaching his table.

"Couldn't sleep." Scorpius answered as he took the empty seat next to him on the Gryffindor table. As much as he had seen various and Rose do it countless times he always felt like an uninvited guest at a party when he sat at any house table that wasn't beneath the blue and bronze hangings. He shook off the feeling as best he could as he swung his legs over the bench and began staring at the copious amounts of bacon laid out directly before him. "And you?" he added as an after thought as to why Albus, who was know for being particularly lethargic in the early hours and constantly running late before first lesson because of it was up and cheerful about it as well.

"I should be insulted, but that takes too much work to hold a grudge so I'll just tell you. It's my birthday." He answered and then continued on adopting a not of mock smugness. "Today I become a man my dear boy. One day you'll understand the weight and responsibility that befalls one at this important juncture in life, the scope and magnitude of life, the universe, everything has a -"

"My birthday was 4 months ago Al, and now I officially feel no guilt for neglecting to remember yours when you've so easily forgotten mine." Scorpius interrupted him with a small smile before taking a bit of his toast.

"As you know the brood is rather fond of, shall we say unorthadox methods of waking you up on your birthday. Something about my dad doing something to my uncle when he turned 17, anyway, it's just another tradition of ours, one that I very luckily escaped this morning by setting my alarm for 5 am and then leaving a little surprise for any one attempting any spells pointed at my bed curtains.

"Anyhow, you shouldn't feel guilty since you got me something, 'The unauthorized biography of Harry Potter' by Rita Skeeter which of course features an entire chapter going over the names he chose for his children. Funny you little wanker." Though Al's voice dripped with annoyance but Scorpius knew he appreciated the lack of hero worship he held for the famous Potter family.

"Yes the theory of his homeo erotic teenage exploration phase with both the ancient and the smarmy Professors fascinating." Albus colored with real annoyance at this before stabbing his fried egg in effigy.

"I hate that woman," was all he said. They slipped into a companionable silence where in Scorpius's mind swirled back to the reasons for it's misery. When Al spoke it drew Scorpius out sharply of the bittersweet memory of the feel of Roses legs wrapped around his body. "So why couldn't you sleep?"

Scorpius thought for a moment before speaking. He had confessed to no one but Cecelia about his feelings for Rose and his admission then hadn't been on purpose. But he felt as though he could endure this no longer. It was torture sitting alone in his own debates about what to do, he needed a new train of though to steady himself upon. Even if it was just in the knowledge that he disagreed, then at least he knew what he would be against. So then, with out preamble or any further internal debate he said the most closely guarded secret of his existence.

"I think I'm in love with Rose." He didn't take his eyes off the toast he was ripping to pieces.

"You think or you are?" Al's now solemn voice asked after a long moment of silence. Scorpius didn't have to think about it before he clarified.

"I am."

"Damn it!" Al threw his fork onto the table where it bounce off with a loud noise punctuated by a piece of egg flying off and landing on the floor 5 feet away. This was bad, really really bad. He knew confessing his admiration for his cousin might not be to his liking but he hadn't expected out right venom. He clutched his bag as he shifted his weight for a hasty retreat, he'd seen those unfortunate few who had ended up on the wrong end of the broods collective dislike.

"You couldn't have waited just one more day. A measly 18 more hours later and I'd be 5 galleons richer, you annoying little tosser."

"Excuse me?" Scorpius managed to stammer in his exceptional confusion.

"Hugo is just going to love this, that little scamp always wins. I'm never going against him in one of these again!" Al picked up his now egg free fork and began eating once again as though Scorpius hadn't just unearthed his deepest secret nor had he just considered running for his life.

"I'm sorry, what?" Was all his now addled brain could muster.

"Well you see I had 5 galleons on it not being until after my birthday, but Hugo, well he said it would be after Christmas but before Easter and I just kept insisting it wouldn't be until the spring when all the world was lovey dovey. That's when you went all Rose crazy last year so I thought perhaps it was seasonal. Could you pass me the marmalade?"

Al stretched out his arm, awaiting the jar of orange marmalade sitting two empty plates away from them. Scorpius grabbed it for lack of anything better for his mind to comprehend, for this was certainly all sorts of flabbergasting. As he handed over the glass jar Al seemed to interpret Scorpius's confused look and continued.

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you expecting that to be some shocking revelation?" Al chuckled as he nibbled on a bit of toast. Scorpius stared dumbfounded into Al's amused face. "Oh look, you actually were. Alright look, we're going to skip past the recap of how obvious you are and how obvious she is and I'm just going to tell you to go for it."

Scorpius was speechless, completely unnerved at how unexpectedly this conversation was going. It was a few moments before he found his ability for comprehensive thought. Obvious, they had been obvious? He thought he'd been so careful? Never had he breathed a word of his feelings, he had painstakingly kept any evidence buried as deeply as possible. Then a thought struck him, they, they had been obvious.

"Al, are you saying that Rose might, I mean could she, do you think that...?" Scorpius's incoherent rant was cut off by Al's snickering.

"Wow, for smart people you two really are dumb as rocks." To this Scorpius's jaw just opened and closed several times like a fish staring out into a crowded healer's waiting room. Three eggs and a fair amount of bacon later Al took pity and continued. "As I see it you really only have two choices in the matter.

"First, you ignore it. Be her best friend, pretend it's life as usual and get over it. Though my guess is you've been trying that with zero success since your little stunt at the Victory ball last May and you're confessing the overly obvious because it's working just about as well as that tactic usually goes." Al accentuated this point with a shrug of his shoulders. "Or, you go for it." The hall was beginning to fill now but a thick silence hung between.

"Go for it? Go for what?" Scorpius spluttered.

"For what you want moron. How is it your 2nd in our class again?" Al glanced over at the Hufflepuff table before taking a long swig of his pumpkin juice.

"What is it that I want exactly?"

"Rose I think? Though if you go into details, I'm likely going to vomit since she's my cousin. So please refrain from dribbling on about the exact particulars."

"How?" He asked Al.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Al stared off at the Hufflepuff table again with a distant expression on his face. Before either of them could speak again they were interrupted by a large bag hitting the floor between them.

"That was brilliant Al, Hugo was upside down for quarter of an hour before James could finally stop laughing enough to perform the counter spell and let him down." Rose sat down in the small space between the two boys, shunting either one to the side slightly making room for her to lean her elbows back on the table as she relaxed back onto the bench as she sat facing the opposite direction. Scorpius tried to swallow his panic by the sudden appearance of the topic of conversation.

Neither of them said anything at her arrival and after an confused look at Scorpius she turned her head in the direction Al was staring off into.

"I see, it's a little early in the morning for this kind of pining don't you think?" Rose teased as she pinched his cheeks.

"Sod off," he muttered as he turned his attention back to his food only momentarily distracted by having to smack Roses hand away as she attempted to ruffle his already unkempt hair.

"Oh don't be such a grumpy goblin about it. I say you just propose now and save us all the hassle. Besides, I'm going to owe Hugo 3 galleons if you don't do something before N.E.W.T's."

"Telling me about the bet nullifies the wager so your off the hook anyway." Al pulled the end of one of Roses curls roughly causing her to emit a loud shriek quickly followed by her smacking him in the arm.

"Ow! That hurt you git." He protested loudly as he rubbed his injured arm.

"Stop whining, I'll bet you 5 sickles it won't even bruise," she countered as she stole a piece of bacon from her cousins plate.

"How can you guys keep track of who owes who how much?" Scorpius laughed as he watched the two cousins interact. He was always in awe at the interaction between the big family, jealous at the instant inclusion they all had just by existing.

"It's not that hard, though you have to be careful with Freddie, he'll rob you blind if you let him." Al spoke this time since Rose's mouth was full.

"So what was that first bet about?" Scorpius asked only to have Al turn a rich shade of scarlet and Rose to almost gag on her bacon.

"Nothing, hey Scorpius did you finish your charms essay? It would be great if you could explain the theory behind the refilling charm and the different ways to_" Al's was never given a chance to finish because once Rose was able to breath normally again she was talking over him.

"Oh that, well our little Albus here is in love." Rose said in a very good imitation of Mrs. Potter.

"Shut up right now or I'll tell Aunt Fleur you broke that vase three years ago and blamed it on Norbert." He pointed his fork at her threateningly

"Ha, you already ratted me out last summer, I told you that you'd want to save that for something better than me telling Alisha Ming that you used to run around the yard naked exclaiming you were Marvin the Madd muggle."

"Who's he in love with? Is it Alisha? I hate it when you guys do this with me right here." They exchanged a look with Al clearly stating he wanted to kill her and Rose feeling smug.

"Al here is just bitter because he's in love with the only untouchable girl his age." She nodded her head toward the Hufflepuff table. "Poor sod could have fallen for anyone and he just has to go and fall for Alice Longbottom." At this revelation Al punched his cousin in the arm.

"Ow!" She returned the punch. "Looks like I owe you 5 sickles because that is definitely going to bruise. I'm going to tell your Dad you hit a girl."

"I'll tell your Mum you ditched prefect duties last night." Scorpius dropped his fork onto his plate and he felt his neck growing warm, he tugged on the collar of his sweater. To his relief and annoyance Rose didn't miss a beat.

"I didn't ditch prefect duties, I just ditched Hazel." Rose muttered defensively.

"It's for the safety and protection of the prefects to patrol in pairs." Al adopted an air of pompous superiority. Rose snorted just as she stole a gulp from Al's glass of pumpkin juice the burst into a loud peel of laughter.

"I love Uncle Percy, just for the entertainment value alone. Now stop snooping into my prefect duties of last night or you'll ruin all of our careful planning." Scorpius took his turn snorting into his pumpkin juice but Rose just smiled and winked at her cousin as he cottoned on.

"So you've all done something then?" He asked excitedly.

"What we may or may not have done last night may or may not have anything to do with no one in particular. For all you know I was snogging some dapper gentleman last night and no one did anything at all." At these words Scorpius's elbow slipped off the tables edge causing the contents of him glass to spill all over the front of his school robes.

Was she trying to give him a heart attack? Was she going to tell Al? He hadn't planned on telling anyone but for all Scorpius knew the girls dorm had been privileged to the in depth knowledge of what sort of kisser he was. What sort of kisser was he? I mean if she's told someone, was there a way for him to find out? Scorpius meditated momentarily on the various methods he'd heard of for manipulating information out of someone and briefly wondered if his dad would send him a vial of veritaserum if he asked for it before he was brought back to the present by the quarrelling cousins.

"It would look suspicious if you knew too much Albey Walby, you'll just have to be surprised just like the rest of the uninformed masses," she made to pinch his cheeks but he deftly dodged her and then pulled her hair again. "Stop messing up my hair you tosser," she said as she adjusted whatever was holding her hair in the position it was in.

Scorpius loved to watch her adjust her hair. Rose would bite her lip and look upward as though it were possible that looking hard enough would enable her to see the top of her head. She would wrinkle her nose in concentration and curse when unable to locate a mirror when finished only to remember she knew how to conjure one, a N.E.W.T standard feat and inspect it. It was adorable. When finished she tapped the glassy surface with the tip of her wand and without saying a word it vanished. He felt his lip curve into a half smile, she was truly amazing. Funny, beautiful and able to run circles around half the class academically. She had to be aware of the power she held over him.

"Well boys, it's been a pleasure but I got back to the dorms after Becky had gone to bed and we have secret affairs to discuss." Never had a Jane Austen quote invoked so much panic before. Scorpius chanced a glance at Rose only to find her blushing and looking down at the floor. The first hint of awkwardness between them all morning. Well at least it wasn't just him feeling like an idiot.

He watched Rose walk off in the direction of the Ravenclaw table and just as he was about to turn his attention back to his breakfast he watched her as she look back at him. Her auburn curls bouncing along her back, her porcelain features in perfect profile, then their eyes met for the first time all morning and she smiled at him before looking at the path before her.

His heart soared as he watched her walk away, her school robes draped over her messenger bag, bright neon orange and pink striped tights beneath the skirt swishing methodically beneath the curve of her arse. He couldn't hold back the thought that less than 12 hours ago he was holding that arse in his hand.

He felt his head cock to one side as he let his eyes follow her.

"Ouch!" Scorpius exclaimed as a hard punch collided on his bicep. "What was that for?" He asked as he rubbed his injury. "It's hazardous to ones health hanging out with you lot."

"Yeah, and if I ever catch you ogling my cousin like shes the center fold in Wanton Witch I'll pick a more effective place to injury, got it?" Scorpius felt his face flush at being called out at such a moment. I guess he wasn't really secretive about it at all if he allowed himself to do that so openly and without any thought to the world around him. He was about to apologize but Al spoke before he got the chance. "I am fine with you, ya know, feeling all lovey dovey about her and wanting to, uhm, hold hands or whatever but I never want to see that look on your face again."

Scorpius laughed and continued blushing a deeper shade of pink, a few moments later however a thought occurred to him.

"Al, why is Alice Longbottom off limits?" It was Al's turn to change color.

"Because as a 13 year old wanker I agreed to the most basic and strict rule of 'the brood'" Al answered in a forlorn tone as he watched Alice's long blonde hair as she talked with her friends.

"The way you guys talk about it 'The Brood' it's like a cult or something. Do you have to sacrifice a virgin or perform a blood ritual to sign up or something." Scorpius's voice was saturated with bitterness. He hated being excluded from this coolest of gangs, though he counted most of the so called 'brood' as his closest friends and routinely hung out at their homes on holidays. Al chuckled before answering him.

"No sacrificial virgins or blood, but there is a secret ceremony." Scorpius raised an eyebrow to show his piqued interest. "It all started when Teddy, you met Teddy and his wife Victoire last summer. Well, I don't remember all of it exactly, but when he came back from his first year at school he was really upset and wouldn't talk to my Dad, who is his Godfather. Anyway it turns out that some of this kids had pointed out when he said that he was in our family that he actually wasn't. That Godfather isn't the same as Uncle or Dad and they said he was just a mix blood mongrel or some bullshit like that.

"Anyway when he got back from school for the summer he was really upset and it took two weeks to finally get Teddy to say what was wrong and my Dad completely freaked out. Said he wanted to talk to those stupid brats himself and that he was just as much his family as anyone else in his life. Well then I guess Teddy said something about how that wasn't really true because he was actually raised by family, and then he got into the Weasleys by having special ceremony, a wedding that Teddy had attended.

"So my Dad decided that if that's all it would take to make Teddy family, then they would have to have a ceremony to make it official. Now I can't get into the specifics or anything because you are not brood approved but I'll let slip that it involves howling at the full moon." Al smirked at his tantalizing hint of their secret ceremony.

"Brood approved." Scorpius muttered under his breath. "and does my family tree have anything to do with my disapproval." Scorpius felt the fist fall in the same spot it had before.

"I'll have you know you were approved by a landslide when we voted, but Rose said she got the most say since you were her friend first and that you weren't joining." Al admitted with a wide grin. Scorpius's stomach twisted in knots and he fought down the urge to get up and sulk in the library.

"Hey, don't look so down and out about it. In your situation it's a good thing, that is if you actually want to date her and not just admire from afar." Confusion washed over him and he just stared at Al waiting for further explanation. "It's why Alice is untouchable. That rule I said I so stupidly agreed to, yeah well I didn't just agree to it, I came up with it. No inter brood dating."

"Man you really are an idiot, I would never ban myself from dating Alice Longbottom, she's hot."

"Yeah well you hadn't just spent the last several years getting chased by her in kissing tag or being told you were really cute. Now I wouldn't mind so much getting chased down when the threat is being caught just to end with a good snog, nor would I mind her giggling about how cute I am. But as a 13 year old I was bloody sick of it. I wouldn't be in the mess I'm in now if it weren't for Teddy and Victoire." Al lamented as he grabbed his bag and motioned Scoripus to do the same.

"So Teddy and Victoire said you couldn't date?" Scorpius asked, confused.

"No, I came up with it, but only because about a year after they started dating they broke up and it was chaos for the brood. We had no idea what happened but we all took sides anyway and went so far as to not talk to anyone who wasn't siding with the same person. Well they got back together and we all were fine again but the holidays while they were broken up where a nightmare. Granny Weasley about had a heart attack trying to not take sides and keep them both invited for Christmas.

"So we made a pact. No dating. Not unless you both agree to skip all mutual family activities for 1 year and to keep it a secret for as long as possible so as to not weird the rest of us out. You can't make a go of it until you're both out of school and no one can take sides when it's over."

"Wow, strict rules."

"Yeah, like I said untouchable. So last summer we voted on inducting you, it has been a while since we've had the ceremony and it's always a blast, plus you fit in pretty nicely with us though there was a debate on if you'd take the stick out of your arse when you joined."

"I don't have a stick up my-

"Any how," Al interrupted "you were voted in on a landslide but Rose was against it. At the time she was saying it was about how you and her weren't quite fine again after all that happened last year but anyone with a brain knew that was a pile of hippogriff dung." Scorpius stared at him as they walked down to the dungeon potions classroom, then shook his head as if the answer was obvious. "She didn't want you moved into untouchable status."

"Right now, you and her are fair game. Though I don't know if she can come up with another reason when we vote on you again. I'd say you've got until Easter holidays to make a move or else you are cemented firmly in the friend zone." A mingled sense of dread and relief washed over him. This made him feel much better about his constant exclusion from the brood's activities and jokes. Dread since that mean a matter of mere weeks before he lost his shot with her for good.

When they walked into the smoke filled classroom Scorpius's eyes landed on the empty chair next to Rose before he looked over at her, sitting down smiling widely at him. Al just chuckled and took his usual set next to Jacob Creevey.

Scorpius stared at her without moving for a moment. This was it, as he looked at her he knew he was deciding his future with Rose. He could either sit next to her and take notes like nothing had changed between them, or he could 'go for it' as Al had so aptly put it and do whatever the hell people do when going after the girl of their dreams.

He squared his shoulders as he stood up to full height, he knew what he was going to do and there was no use looking back now. He crossed the room and dropped his bag next to hers. As he moved to sit down he placed his hand on the small of her back and moved his lips to just next to her ear as he whispered.

"You look beautiful today Rose." She stared up at him with a mixture of confusion and pleasure on her now pink cheeked face.

"Thank you." She stammered before pulling out her quill and textbook from her back. Yes, there was no going back now and he moved his chair as close to her as he could and flashed her a wide smile.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I am enjoying this new thing where I tell you what I want to read in the reviews and then you like actually review with that in there. It's really cool! *evil cackle that shakes like the bowels of the earth* Sadly, this time I have no specific requests. It's just a short chapter of me waiting for laundry to be done so I can put it in the dryer yo! "Peace (well not literally)" -----name what quote and I will dedicate an awkward moment to you!

Untitled

Rose and her body were at constant war. While Rose has this mental image of herself gracefully walking down a hallway, more often than not her feet would find something on that smooth flat surface to stumble upon. On a good day where she felt calm and relaxed she could still manage to shatter the ceramic bowl holding the salamander spleen or knock her neatly and much too highly stacked books off the corner of her desk with her elbow.

Today would not be classified as one her best of days. The double potions class she was now sitting through was actually comical to several of the people around her, most especially her cousin across the room.

She had made a resolution that morning not to let there be any awkwardness between her and Scorpius. The years of acclimation to humiliation via her unfiltered mouth and emotional maturity of a dry roasted peanut made this task fairly manageable, she had for the most part maintained her composure during their brief encounter at breakfast despite fighting a nagging portion of her consciousness that refused to focus on anything except for his lips. How was she ever going to concentrate on anything else now?

It had even been going so well she relished in throwing in a comment or two that was delighted in watching Scorpius's less than composed reactions too. Not even an hour from that encounter wherein she had remained composure and he had dribbled the juice now staining his tie, how was it then that he was the one cool and collected and she was the one mopping up the fire weed pickled kelp she'd knocked onto the hard dungeon floor as she muttered explanations and apology's to Jaslena and her now smoking book bag.

Jaslena Goldstein simply glared at her and moved her bag to the other side of the table simply to continued her hauty air of smug superiority. Rose stood back up and faced her now ruined potion.

"I'm terribly sorry Miss Weasley, but I have no choice but to award you a zero for today's practical portion of our lesson." Professor Abernathy said apologetically. "Let us take this as an example of what happens with the best of starts to a potion when even the slightest deviation is unskillfully attempted." He was speaking loudly to the whole class now and Rose slumped down into her chair sulking at being made the idiot example of the day. "Exploration is encouraged in potioneering but should be done so under a strict adherence to Gopalots rules of elemental experimentation."

Rose was rethinking her selection of her favorite teacher when she felt warm breath on her neck.

"Are you alright Rose?" Scorpius concerned husky whisper tickled down her skin. She turned her head to find his perfect lips and dimpled chin next to her. She felt her breath catch in her chest, his pale blue eyes studying her made her lose what little concentration she had managed to maintain through the whole ordeal.

"Huh?" was her lazy and unfocused reply.

"Well your stockings," they both looked down at her knee. She watched as he placed his warm hand gently on the three holes now dusting her knee. "it seems the the fire weed brine isn't terribly fabric friendly." Professor Abernathy could have stripped down naked and done the conga and it wouldn't have pulled Rose's concentration away from the thumb he was grazing across the tiny exposure of bare skin or the intoxicating feeling of his fingers curling around the base of her thigh. She tried to swallow and found the perfunctory action completely impossible.

"They're ruined." Despite that these were indeed her favorite pair of bright neon multi hued striped tights that she had picked out especially for today to give her courage, she couldn't have cared less that they were totally destroyed. What were a pair of pink and orange candy cane striped stockings compared to his hand on her thigh.

His hand, still on her leg, was ensuring she continued to find it difficult to process thoughts coherently. She licked her lips subconsciously and wondered for a moment what he was thinking about as he touched her like that. Did he have any idea of what his fingers wrapped around the inside of her thigh was doing to her? Her mind was begging his hand to ascend further up her leg, flashing her images of his palm sliding up her inner thigh. Oh sweet merlin's saggiest pair of y-fronts why was he doing this to her.

Was this pay back for what she'd said at breakfast, or maybe, just maybe there was the tiniest possibility that he enjoyed touching her like that? That he wanted her to be forced to sit calmly and quietly as her mind imagined the slow and steady caresses of his large powerful hands. They were sitting in a classroom with 20 other people and all she could think about was his hand on her knee. Was he just reveling in the obvious reaction she was once again having to him. She forced herself back to reality and muttered.

"Not ruined, now they're perfect for my Roller Derby try outs." She forced a wide smile before turning her head back to the front of the class. His hand lingered for a moment longer before the sudden exposure to the cool air left her empty inside.


	5. Chapter 5

Woo hoo to ChampionShoes for not just being the first chapter 4 review but for also knowing that was the great and amazing Dr Horrible! I'm glad I'm not the only Whedon geek out there. You're awkward moment is coming I promise!

This is short and even though I wrote this big long bit about the prank and it like actually progresses the plot along, I got a new laptop and am yet to transfer my files so I just wanted to write something that wouldn't conflict with the next chapter. WOOT! Review it if you like it!

Dreaming a little dream

She heard him before she felt him. Clacking foot falls against tiled floor announcing his presence but she chose to ignore it, give him the satisfaction of creeping up on her. When he finally wrapped his arms around her from behind it was like a long breath of air to a drowning man breaking the surface of the water. The tension in her body broke and she relaxed into his warm, strong embrace.

"Hello Love." He whispered into her ear causing a shutter, the cool air causing goose flesh to dimple her skin. She sighed and leaned her head back against his shoulder as he nuzzled into her neck.

"I missed you." She whispered breathlessly into the pressing darkness around her. The arms around her ran along her body, his right feeling its way along the curvature of her stomach before moving along her upper thighs and settling at the hem of her skirt. Her mind could think of nothing else but his hands on her, touching her, caressing her, wanting her, wanting all of her. It thrilled her to know he ached at the thoughts she invoked in him. She could feel the evidence of that pressing into her backside. She thrilled at that too.

"Tell me what you missed." He spoke slowly and punctuated each word with a long lingering kiss along her neck. She felt her legs weaken and she leaned more of her weight against him. The fingertips now toying with the curve of her thigh, teasing her at the hemline and along the bare skin of her arms and as he moved she lifted the arm to curve her fingers into his tousled locks of flaxen hair. His fingertips fell along the inside of her arms and as he softly reached the base of her up turned arm he moved his hand to the under curve of her breast and slowly thumbed the downward slope of her sensitive breast. "Rose darling, if you love me, then you'll tell me what you missed."

"I missed the way you touch me." Her body ached at his deliciously slow speed, both begging him to speed the torturous pace and loving the methodical way he reached his fingertips along the underside of her skirt. She moved her body downward slightly, both grinding her backside into his crotch and attempting to assist his hand in the assent up her bare inner thigh. She felt his chest move as he laughed quietly, clearly enjoying the reaction he was garnering from her.

"Tell me Rose, what did you miss exactly." The words were said into her shoulder as he caress and teased the sensitive skin there with his dampened lips and moistened tongue. He continued his teasing ministrations and she could feel the smiling curve of his lips as he toyed with her.

"I missed the way you make me forget everything else in the world." Her words were rewarded with his hand moving up her leg toward her aching center. Encouraged she continued. "The way you move your body against me so that I know you want me." This comment was met joyously with him grabbing both the breast he was fondling and the thigh he was caressing firmly as he thrust and pumped his hardened member into her curving backside. She loved it when he took her like that, when he claimed her as his, his lover, his only.

"I always want you." More kisses along her neckline. "Always have, always will." He muttered into her skin between caresses. They were silent as he ground into her again and again, clutching her body like a precious lifeline as they enjoyed the feel of one another. "What else Rose petal. What is it that you want?" Rose smiled to herself before answering.

"I want you to make me come Scorpius. Stop teasing me and please touch me with those amazing hands. Bring me to the edge and back again with the ecstasy only you bring me to.

"I will do anything for you, my love." And then he slid his flat palm along her milk skin and sunk his long familiar fingers into her dripping folds. She focused so much on the feel of perfection created by his circling fingertips, so much so that she didn't notice the hand caressing her stomach beneath her shirt and making its way on to her unbound chest.

It was joy, if they could prefect the way to bottle joy surely they could use the abundance inside her to fill 1000 bottles for commercial use. This was euphoria beyond anything else in life. This was the loving caress of a man who when he looked at her saw the smart beautiful woman she was. She felt the beginnings of it, the fuzzy trill of pleasure building in her, the curling of her toes. Oh sweet Merlin this was it. It would happen once again at his hand. Again and again he would ride with her over the waves of orgasmic ecstasy. She felt her legs begin to clench around his expertly moving hands. So close.

"Rose, hey Rose." The loud voice that disturbed her was the same as the one in her vision but so different. Instead of soft and subtle, a whispered caress in her ear. This was hushed with the concern of a friend under the withering glare of a teacher not far off.

"Don't stop." She mumbled as her mind lost the dream like a fist fighting to hold sand. It just passed through her grasp until it was barely a memory. Her disappointment engulfed her sharply and though she could recollect nothing more than the pungent lust it left in her body, throbbing for attention between her legs she knew the dream had been of Scorpius. She couldn't place it exactly but he was there whispering in her ear that the thought of her drove him crazy. She glanced over at him and he seemed to be enjoying a great joke now.

"I won't stop but you'll have to tell me what I've done to elicit those sorts of noises." He grinned at her wickedly and her entire mind snapped back to reality.

"Noises?" she questioned from the side of her mouth since the Ancient Rune professor had picked this moment to look over at them.

"Yes, that's why I woke you. You were starting to draw an audience." Oh dear mother of Morgana she was going to have to fling herself off the top most window of Ravenclaw tower because she would never live this humiliation down.

"Dreaming of food, it's almost lunch and I'm hungry." She grumbled feebly.

"Whatever you say." He muttered before leaning closer and whispering into her ear. "Remind me to have whatever it is you're having for lunch." He smirked again and just as Rose began to relax he reached out and brushed a stray curl behind her ear and causing her to experience another wave of remembered pleasure from the contact of his brushing skin along her neck.

She was never going to survive the day if he kept this up.


	6. The Prank

So I promised ChampionShoes an awkward moment but this chapter was getting to freakishly long (and I'm lazy okay) so I've split it up into two perhaps three and so it will be coming in a future chapter. But don't panic because it is already written. (It's so awkward too, I am resisting the urge to soften it, because I don't want to be THAT mean to Rose, I mean what did she ever do to me?)

Thanks to all those who are faithfully reviewing, seriously I appreciate it. Tell me if you all like the prank, I thought long and hard on it.

Oh and for everyone who commented on it, Yes it was Dr. Horrible, and Joss is my HERO! Serious, stop reading this fic and go to hulu to watch Dr Horrible's sing a long blog. IT'S SO GOOD!!!

The Prank

The excitement filled within her as she struggled to preserve a straight face. She glanced up at the large grandfather clock sitting on the east wall of the Ancient Runes classroom. Two minutes until operation _Al of Age_ begins and after weeks of careful planning she was finding it difficult to wait the one hundred and twenty seconds before it all unfolded around her.

Their careful planning was all scheduled to go off the exact moment of his birth, 11:27am. Which was perfect, they would all be in class and unable to be held specifically accountable for any prank that may or may not be completely their doing. They had the secrecy pact of the entire collective brood as protection, something that not one teacher or parent had ever gotten past and though they were sure to be interrogated as the obvious culprits none could be held singularly accountable for it.

She glanced the watch on her wrist, the one they had all synchronized last night to ensure the spells were set to perfection, only 38 seconds left.

Lifting her bag on to her lap she rolled up her parchment and slid her book inside, 22 seconds. She looked over and met Scorpius' eyes, he had watched her put her things away and was eyeing her with obvious suspension. Rose simply smiled widely and shrugged in an overly obvious nonchalant way before looking at her watch again. She saw him mimic her movements, latching his bag with only 6 seconds left.

As the hand on her clock ticked closer to the top most position she looped her messenger bag over her shoulder and climbed up onto her chair. This action was greeted with confused stares from her classmates and a mischievous smirk from Scorpius who stood up looking both unsure if he should do the same as her and curious as to what antics he was about to stand witness to.

Then it happened, the crashing and echoing cacophony of thousands of hard glass spheres smacking loudly onto the floor, reverberating in a frenzy of high pitched dins upon the ground. As the rushing wave of cascading marbles descended from the door frame Scorpius' face broke out into a wide grin as he quickly jumped onto the chair he had been sitting in.

Her classmates glanced around with a jumble of confused or amused looks on their faces. Instead of bouncing, the surge of marbles clung to the stone unnaturally as they hit the floor, flowing toward the disoriented occupants of the N.E.W.T level Ancient Runes students.

Rose couldn't hold in her peel of loud laughter as the anticipation continued to build. So close, It was all so close and they were all just sitting there, none of them moving out of the way.

Then as the first ripple hit the legs of the few unoccupied desks and chairs of the back rows they took off in random directions as quickly as if they had been hit with an acceleration jinx. Whenever any hit another ball or chair leg they would bounce off with a deafening crash in a new direction faster than before. Soon the entire classroom floor was covered in a mad rushing of banging and zooming marbles.

A few students, like Scorpius, had watched Rose's actions when the first marbles had bounced and followed her lead by leaping into their chairs but at least three quarters of the class had just sat stupidly stunned. Now though as their senses returned they found their feet unable to move off of the ground. It was the struggling of pompous and perfect Jaslena Goldstein that did it in for her and she doubled over with laughter at the sight before her.

Each time one of the marbles hit a shoe or something immediately touching a person, instead of bouncing off it would stick, not just to the shoe but to the ground as well. Anything touching the marble when it hit would be affixed to it. A few panicked cries rang out and when Scorpius looked at her with confusion she just laughed more before calling out of the still echoing din.

"Just wait!" She glanced at her watch. "Two more minutes," He relaxed a bit then he seemed able to laugh with her with the assurance no one would be suffering permanent damage.

Then as those last two minutes ticked by the noise of ricocheting marbles quieted as they all found feet and legs to cling to, Rose quieted her laughter and waited. As the large grandfather clock struck 11:30 all of marbles exploded in a large cloud of dust, encircling the person they had been affixed to. Rose then found it once again impossible to hold in her delighted glee. The dozen or so multi-hued dust clouds settled and each person, who sat waving away the sulfur smelling haze as they coughed and gagged on the charmed smoke, was covered in head to toe graffiti spelling out **'Happy Birthday'** in violently bright shades of the neon rainbow.

She bent over, unable to contain her laughter at the mix of amused and annoyed, flashing and clashing classmates around her. Then the inevitable happened, Rose, who never should be permitted to stand on any table or chair for any duration of time due to her inability to stand without falling over even on a flat level planes found the wobbly and elevated surface too much for her inept equilibrium and she began to teeter precariously.

It was like the world suddenly sped up around her. She found herself unable to grasp onto anything, nothing to hold onto and the ground seemed to be rushing toward her at an alarming pace. _'Oh no'_ she thought, _'not again, and it's been a whole week sense the hospital wing.'_ And much like a child will hide their face in hopes that the world can't see them if they can't see the world she clamped her eyes shut tightly praying this would all just get over with already so she can stand back up and pretend she wasn't mortified by the humiliation.

As she hit the ground she held out her hands instinctively, despite knowing that it would do know good and though the room was still a loud chorus of confusion the ensuing snap was loud enough that Scorpius clearly heard it from where he stood, watching her in horror.

This was not the first time Rose had broken a bone, in fact it wasn't even the first time she's broken this particular wrist, but pain of a broken bone is always considerably more painful than our memory gives the moment credit for. So Rose sat on the ground with her chin tucked against her chest willing herself to be strong and not give into the hot tears that were pressing to come forth. She didn't try to focus on getting up or moving, all her energy was concentrated on not crying in the middle of a room of classmates.

Soon she felt a warm arm around her shoulder and the familiar scent of cashmere and vanilla wafted over her and assured her of whose embrace she was encircled in. She felt his breath tickling her neck but couldn't concentrate on the sounds making their way from his lips to her ear. It was all just pain; bright searing pain was taking up all her focus. After a moment she noticed he weight shifting rhythmically Rose pushed back the pain to take in her new position.

The pair of solid arms were holding her; one behind her back as before but the other was tucked beneath her knees. He was still speaking, whispering to her and she finally began to take in the murmured words of comfort he was doling out, though by the tone of his voice she suspected the words were just as much for him as they were for her. She opened her eyes for the first time since falling and looked up at him. Rose's eyes immediately met his silver gray eyes and he smiled at her in such a tender way that despite the excruciating pain pulsating through her, she smiled back.

It was then that the tears spilled over, and for the first time in a very long time she didn't mind crying with someone there to see that moment. She tucked her head against his chest and just let him hold her. His body was warm and comforting to her as she bounced and swayed steadily as he walked. It was peaceful in his arms, safe and a place she felt at peace.

His consolatory murmurings halted when she adopted her new position and after a moment of silence she felt his cheek against the top of her head.

They went along like that for a moment then as they turned a corner she felt the soft pressure of a gentle kiss on the crest of her forehead. She smiled through her tears at this tender action and when she once again opened her eyes to peek a look at her rescuer she noticed for the first time where she was, which was a mere corridor away from the vast double doors of the hospital wing entrance.

"No stop!" she cried out as she connected the consequences of passing through that horrible threshold. "You can't take me in there." Scorpius was startled by her sudden burst of fight so that when she cried out in pain as her attempts to get down caused her further injury he set her down as carefully as he could.

"Rose you have to go, your wrist is clearly broken," he insisted as he took her swollen appendage into his hand. She winced as he touched her, and he raise a knowing eyebrow that clearly backed up what his voice was saying.

"Broken bones get letters home, if this was only a bruise or a minor laceration then I would go in right now." She studied him, pleading with her eyes that he understand her position. "If a letter goes home then Mum and Dad will know about the prank. Right now we all have plausible deniability in this thing but the moment we get the parental involved we're punished whether it can be proven or not. They'll know it was us and have the luxury of not needing to be sure about it to penalize the lot of us." Scorpius rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Rose it's a broken wrist, you can't just ignore this." He placed his hand on her elbow as if to steer her toward the entrance. She had to do something, say something for him to not want her to go in there either.

"If my Dad gets word I'm hurt he'll come, and then he'll wonder why I can't spend time with him tonight when I'm in detention," she paused for dramatic effect, "with you." These last two words sealed it for him and she knew from the way his whole body froze she'd hit on the right vein of argument.

"I'm sure Auror Weasley wouldn't have any problem what so ever with the situation, I mean it's not like he didn't have detentions of his own in his day. It's something he'll completely understand once I tell him exactly what happened." She felt the color rush to her face as she laid out the ignored topic of last night's encounter.

"Are you blackmailing me?" He voice was stunned and he simply looked at her for a moment. After a moment though the shock wore off and he shook his head as if it would clear away the ridiculousness of her argument. "It doesn't matter Rose, dismemberment by your father or not, you have get that wrist taken care of." He attempted to steer her toward the hospital wing again but she moved herself out of the way quickly, wincing as she did so. His brow creased as he watched her in pain and her heart warmed at the obvious care he had for her well being.

"I'm not suggesting we ignore this," she said, smiling sweetly in a way that always bespoke mischief. His brow rose again, encouraging her to continue. "You're the one who's been prattling on for ages about wanting to be a healer." She held out her arm for him. "So heal."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: so uhm… I'm splitting this because it was getting super long. I figured 2,300 words were enough to make a chapter so I cut it off at the POV change. The exceptionally awkward moment of humiliation is dedicated to ChampionShoes who totally got my Dr. Horrible quote. YOU ROCK!

Thank you to everyone who has faithfully reviewed and followed this story, I am in awe that you like my mental dribbling. You rock too!

Word Vomit

Half an hour later they were sitting in Scorpius' empty dorm room with the pilfered contents from the hospital scattered between them. He closed the curtains of the four poster and tried not to focus on how many times he'd imagined being alone on his bed with her.

She held out her swollen wrist to him and he took it in his hands. After waving his wand over her as he muttered an incantation then looked at the book sitting in his lap.

"Well it's definitely broken." He said without taking his eyes off the page.

"Oh thank you captain obvious." Rose said in an overtly mocking tone. "Whatever would I do without you're keen insight?" He scowled at her and she smiled at him, enjoying her joke.

"If you don't mind, it's my first diagnosis and you're just going to have to do it my way." Though he knew he was being teased she was putting him on edge. He didn't like the pressure of healing her without any sort of supervision.

"Well if I'd known you'd be this authoritative I'd have insisted on playing Healer/Patient a long time ago." Rose's voice was drenched in lusty suggestiveness and Scorpius hands fumbled the bottle he was attempting to open. He picked up the bottle he'd dropped onto his bed spread as his mind raced for a comeback.

He was going for her, he'd made that decision already but it hadn't slipped his notice that things always went one of two ways with them. Either she was overtly flirtatious with his only reaction was to spill or drop whatever he had in his hands or he would engage her only to have her response be similar yet routinely more clumsy and destructive then his own.

One of them had to stop cowering when the other made a move. He took a deep breath and tried to focus his thoughts as he twisted the cap off the bottle of Skele-gro.

"If I'd known you simply preferred a commanding tone in bed, I would certainly have been willing to oblige you." He looked up at her with what he prayed was the classic Malfoy smirk and was greeted by a shocked smile on her face. He offered her the steaming beaker full of medicine and watched as she downed it like it was a single shot of firewhiskey. The face she made afterward was similar to that action as well. "Wow it looks like you know what you're doing with that stuff."

"What can I say? I'm a pro at this." She smiled as she handed back the glass beaker. "What's next?" She asked.

"Well why don't you tell, if you're such a pro at this." He was looking at his book when she answered.

"You need to wait 15 minutes before you rub this stuff on," she held up green and white tube. "And in the mean time you should check for other damage."

"Are you otherwise damaged?" he asked, knowing his voice sounded worried. He just couldn't help that though, the thought of her in pain bothered him.

"Well it's a little difficult to tell when the broken bone is screaming out for attention above everything else, but knowing me… yes, in all likelihood there is more than one injury." She smiled as she stated this accepted fact, leaned back on his bed and rested her head on his pillow.

'_Oh sweet mother of Merlin,' _he thought as he surveyed her long limbs lying gracefully before him. He attempted to swallow and looked down to study his book in an attempt to rally his thoughts. The book did him no good of course, it was opened on the page dedicated to broken limbs but it was enough to focus his racing thoughts. After a long moment he set the book down on the edge of the bed and moved toward her.

She was gorgeous of course, laying there on his pillow, looking up at him in a way that made him want to settle in next to her and hold her. He'd gladly miss all his afternoon classes if it meant being here with her. Her hair was disheveled, but it only improved upon the effect of her being in his bed. He shook his head slightly trying to assemble his wits and placed his hands on her feet.

She had kicked her shoes off onto the side of his bed when they sat down and so from toe until her long multi color clad legs disappeared beneath her skirt her legs were laid out for his inspection. He began pressing two fingers into her legs and when he hit on the outside of her right knee she gasped in pain.

"I think we've found your further injury." Scorpius sighed as he sat back on his bed. She looked over at him and smiled before saying.

"One of my further injuries, I'm always damaged in threes." She chuckled at her own self deprecating joke before moving her uninjured hand into the underside of her skirt. He covered his eyes in shock as her skirt hiked half way up her thigh. She laughed again.

"You're going to have to get used to this sort of thing or pick a totally different profession." When she was done speaking he expected another chuckle but instead was greeted with a huff of annoyance. He uncovered his eyes and chanced a look at her. She was lying back on his bed again, clearly frustrated. "I need your help." Scorpius wasn't sure what she meant.

"I'm helping you, remember how I just lied to Madame Patil to get you various kinds of medicines." Rose leaned up onto her elbow and looked at him, her eyes pleading with sympathy from him.

"More specifically Scorpius, I need your help removing my stockings." This is not, if anything, was what he was expecting to hear and the startled incoherent mutterings that came out of his mouth proved just that. "Scorp," When she said his name he looked into her deep and enthralling brown eyes. "If we're going to find out what's wrong then my stockings are going to have to come off. As much as I adore the pink and orange stripes they're not really conducive to a proper diagnosis. With one of my hands out of commission I need your help."

Scorpius bit his lower lip until it hurt, to be certain this wasn't a particularly realistic wet dream. Rose was a vision before him with her tousled hair and a teasing smile. He once again found it difficult to swallow and suddenly his fingers felt fat and clumsy as he sat back on his knees next to her. His mind fought between looking at her and avoiding her gaze as he reached his hands toward her. In the end his desire for continued permission beat out his embarrassment and so he looked up into her eyes as his hands hovered near the hem of her skirt.

He glanced up at her with what he hoped was calm indifference but suspected was the shy nervous smile of a school boy with a girl in his bed for the first time and she nodded for him to keep going. He leaned forward and delved his hands upward into the unknown abyss. He wasn't sure what exactly was best, he couldn't see her and didn't exactly want to put his hands anywhere that would get his smacked but running his hands up her thighs, as tantalizing an idea as that was, he didn't quite think it was terribly professional of a would be healer. Then again, he wasn't exactly a healer yet.

***

If anyone would have proposed a wager this morning on whether or not she would be in Scorpius' bed as he slowly and methodically removed any portion of her clothing, even her tie before lunch had even began; she would have taken that bet. Additionally she would have bet very high stakes against it and would have spent an enjoyable walk to her first lesson mentally calculated how many new pairs of scarlet hued trainers she could purchase with the winnings.

'_Good thing no one saw this coming'_ she mused as Scorpius moved toward her. _'Though it would be worth losing such a bet if it meant ending up here,_' her mind added as his fingers touched her leg a few inches above her knee. She hadn't been sure the words had left her mouth that he would be willing to remove her stockings for her. His face was only shock and fear when she'd worked up the courage to ask him, which for her typically meant blurting it out the moment the thought occurred to her. Rose wasn't the best when it came to putting things delicately.

All introspection on Rose's ever chattering brain ended when his fingertips began to graze along her legs. It took all over her concentration to still her body from the shiver he was sending through her body. '_Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out,_' she repeated the mantra to herself praying it wasn't overtly obvious on her face what the tiny caresses of his ascending touch was doing to her.

It was like the contact of his skin against her woolen stockings were a sudden burst of blazing fire along her body. Leaving the rest of her feeling cold and longing at the neglect. The higher up his hands slowly, torturously slowly, moved the more her essence craved his attention. She craved more than just his tips of fingers; flat palms, she wanted warm sensual flat palms sliding up her thighs. Anything more than what he was doing, she wanted so much more.

She looked up at him and saw that he was studying her face, watching every reaction hitched breath and licked lip as he tortured her. Suddenly the silence thundered around her, she couldn't handle it pressing into her as he watches her.

"And, you haven't even bought me dinner," Rose said to fill the silence with anything, anything besides his smoldering silver eyes. He smiled awkwardly and he froze, this was probably not the best idea since his hands were now settled stationary just below her panty line. With his hands settled there, she was even less able to concentrate on basic functions like breathing regularly and making sure her heart didn't give out. She smiled at him and his deer in wand light position; she had to do something to fix this.

"You could at least have the decency to try some of those terrible pick up lines James and Freddie use." She smiled as casually as she could and he resumed his movements again.

"Let's see, 'If you were words on a page, you'd be what they call FINE PRINT'" Scorpius said, his voice unnervingly relaxed. A moment ago wasn't he just as nervous as she was and now it was no big deal. She grinned outwardly at his words while wishing he were the slightest bit discombobulated by the situation.

"What about, 'I don't need to look at the stars tonight; I've got the most heavenly body right here.'" They shared a chuckle then Scorpius asked.

"Is that supposed to mean you have a fine body or I have a fine body?" Rose felt her neck flush with embarrassment and she stammered in her panic to explain her meaning.

"You're body; I mean that you have a fine. That is to say that the joke means that your body is fine. That doesn't mean your body isn't fine, you're body is sufficiently satisfactory in that department. More than satisfactory actually, your body is really a wonderful specimen of the male physique; I mean do you work out or anything? Because I never see you putting any work into it; yet you're all toned and muscle like those men in the magazines." It was like word vomit, rushing and rushing faster and faster out of her mouth.

"Not that I look at any of those kinds of magazines, but you know, one sees things here and there. But if I did then I would not at all be surprised to see you in one because you do have a very fine body, not that I imagine you like that or anything. I mean that would just be terribly inappropriate of me so, of course not. It's just that you're physically capable in doing a something like that.

"Not that you would of course, I mean you want a respectable career as a healer and it's doubtful you would ever pose in a magazine like 'Boys with Broomsticks' or any other rubbish like that. Not that I am trying to limit your career options or anything, you might change your mind or have to earn some money one day. There isn't anything wrong with that. I know I would buy it." Oh for the love of all that is good and merciful in this world did she just say that? She had to shut up already, after she fixed this, she could fix this still.

"All I'm saying is that if you ever posed nude I would pay to see it!" Oh Merlin's balls that was not fixing it! NO no NO no NO! That did not make things better. She grimaced and covered her face with her hands; willing the world to freeze and reverse time so that she could stuff all of those words back into her mouth.

"YOU'RE PRETTY, NOW WOULD YOU KINDLY REMOVE MY STOCKINGS ALREADY!" Rose cried out with her hands clinched over her eyes.

If it were possible to die of humiliation Rose would have done it then. All she could do was contemplate various memory charms she'd heard of over the years. She had been warned against meddling with such things though, her Dad told terrible stories of what could happen. This was the first time in her life she really considered trying one.

"You know you're pretty cute when you're embarrassed." Scorpius said so sweetly she chanced a peek at him. He was smiling at her, his eyes dancing with merriment and she was suddenly glad again that she was alone with him.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks to all who review my stuff, I like you much better than those who don't. (Yeah that's right you know who you are. You're those people who read my stuff and don't tell me what you think about it. You sicken me; I spit upon your ruined soul)

Definitely not a Gryffindor

One of Scorpius' favorite things in the whole world was when Rose was so embarrassed that she just exploded words, saying everything all at once. It had gotten her both in and out of detentions, and allowed him a treasured glimpse into her mind and of course it usually ended in some very long tirade of ridiculousness but it always left her flustered and meek, and he adored how she would pout afterward.

This particular rant was now considered a particular favorite; he lost count of how many times she'd called him attractive. Here he was alone in his bed with her, with his hands resting on her pelvic bone, relishing in the sultry warmth of her smooth skin, preparing to take her clothes off and she was ranting about seeing him naked or nakedish at least. Seriously, that's just cool no matter who you are.

After the exchanged smile though, he turned his attention back to the task at hand, lest he lose control of his composure and ability to reign in the ever pressing desire to allow his hands the fantasy of roaming along her beckoning body; how long can his hands be up her skirt without it being glaringly obvious he was a pervert and wanted his hands up her skirt in considerably more dastardly a fashion

He wrapped his fingers around the top of her stockings and she shivered beneath him. He looked up at her and was pleased to note she blushed.

"Your hands are cold." She answered, uncharacteristically soft as she spoke with one side of her mouth turned upward in an unreadable manner. The skin his fingers touched were smooth and warm, all he wanted to do was let his hands explore, perhaps see if he could make her shiver at his touch again. Merlin's beard that would be lovely' he thought as he felt his arousal build further. Image after image flooded before him of her coy smile broadening as he made her shutter and quake with his exploratory movements.

Instead he wrapped his hands nervously around the waist, visualizing the action in his mind that was happening beneath her disheveled skirt. He saw the vivid colors of her bright pink and orange stockings as began tugging them down, exposing the unknown color of her panties he felt with the bare knuckles as he tugged slowly. He had moved only a few inches before they stopped.

Without exchanging words she lifted, his eyes trained on the raise of her hips elevating the curve of her backside away from the blanket. He watched her, utterly transfixed by her subtle movements. That slightest of actions from her was enough to send his mind hurtling off in the direction of the hundreds of times he'd laid in the very spot she rested and imagined moving like that with her.

She couldn't know, there was no way for her to phantom the vision she called forth with her seemingly innocent movement. He slowly slides his hands down her legs struggling against her siren call. He knew the feel of these legs wrapped around him, moving against him, beseeching him to continue in a mutual quest for carnal pleasure. Her skin was silk as he moved and it took all his powers of mental fortitude to resist the ever increasing urge to run his hand back up the interior of her soft inviting thighs.

Then just as his mind began to come to terms with their continued course away from his constant nocturnal fantasies she made it impossible. She released a barely audible rush of breath. He knew that sound, that haunting and wonderful noise; she had made it last night. In the throngs of her passion their previously intertwined bodies moving rhythmically against each other had elicited; as she clung to him after whispering his name before being overwhelmed by sensations, she had breathed like that, a quiet pant of forced steady and controlled breath.

That did it for him, and though he knew it was wrong; would likely get him slapped or rejected he did it what the base instincts told him to do, screamed for him to give into. He continued the descent down her legs he flattened his hands against her skin; so instead of avoiding contact out of fear and embarrassment he embraced the opportunity he might never have again and curled his long fingers around her legs, allowing his thumbs to feel the inside of her limbs and he pushed her stockings down as slowly and with as much contact as possible.

He watched her face in fascination as the eyes closed and a lower lip was pulled into a wet mouth in what he recognized as a sign of deepest concentration. He stared as her breath hitched and her hands clenched around the fisted fabric of his duvet. The real Rose beat any imagined Rose he'd conjured up in his most vivid of dreams. He couldn't help but be struck by how responsive to the slightest of his touches she was.

As he reached her knee and wrapped his fingers around her leg to tickle the underside she winced loudly and jerked her leg out of his grasp.

"Sorry," he said earnestly. Berating himself for being so thoughtless, how could he have been so stupid to have forgotten the reason behind this whole endeavor?

"It's alright," Rose muttered as she sat up and used her good hand to assist in pulling down the violently hues stockings and though it wasn't as physically satisfying it was still enjoyable to watch her remove them all the same. "I think I landed on the whole side of my leg funny." She turned her lower half to one side, exposing the underside of her thighs for him to examine before she handed him a small plain container with a screw top cap.

"What's this?" He asked examining the unmarked something now resting in his palm.

"It's a bruise remover, you think with my track record I don't have some handy at all times? It's my uncle's special recipe, Mum swears by it. I'd be bruises all over if it weren't for that stuff." She smiles in a way that made him think she was nervous; at least it isn't just him.

He inspected the underside of her upturned knee and sure enough there was signs of a nasty future bruise. He unscrewed the top and inside, about half full was a whitish paste.

Scorpius felt self conscious as he applied it on to her. His eyes were flitting between the forming bruise and the way her skirt fell in the back. The flutter of her skirt as his hands disturbed the hem and he found himself moving his wrist more dramatically than actually necessary to accentuate this action.

He was suddenly torn between the lust growing deeper and deeper within him as he rubbed her, and the integrity of the position as designated healer in this situation. Healers don't do this, they are professionals. They don't get off on rubbing ointment into bruises. Rose's voice broke his morally conflicting concentration.

"Now that the pain in my wrist is going down I can really feel how bad my leg hurts. Do you think you could," Rose hesitated searching for words before finishing. "Check up a little higher? That whole area is starting to really ache."

It was as though the fates were laughing at him. _'Yeah go ahead and try to moralize about being sexually aroused by a medical treatment, we'll just go ahead and make it more interesting,' _He imagined the fates whispering mockingly on the sidelines.

He watched his own hands in disbelief that this was reality as he pushed her skirt further up her thighs, teetering tantalizingly close to her curve rounded backside. He had a remembered flash of clutching her in his hands, holding her as they moved in synch together.

He moved his palm against her skin and she let out a soft moan. He felt his pants grow tighter still as he worked the paste into her skin. Scorpius rubbed and circled, letting his mind imagine dozens of different ways to satisfy his lust for her. He adjusted his thumb upward as he moved higher and higher until it grazed the along the edge of her panties.

At the touch of her soft and smooth undergarment he almost lost control right then. His mind warred with itself, one, and a majority, whispered for him to take her hip in hand and rub against her curved and inviting backside. He wanted it, craved it. She was like an aged glass of whiskey to a thirsty alcoholic. He was addicted to her in every imaginable way and being like this, with her softly mewing to his caress was like a fix too tempting to pass up.

Then of course there was the morally conscious part of him, the small and more guilt stricken part that knew it was terribly wrong to take advantage. Was he listening though? No, instead he ran his thumb further up, broaching the underside of the garment. Wrong, still too far but still she just sighed at his touch. He closed his eyes, and took deep breaths to steady himself. He moved his thumb along the inside of her panty line and moved it upward toward the crest of her hipbone.

'In for a sickle, in for a galleon' he thought as he shifted closer to her. He slowly rubbed his hands along her leg, his eyes fixed upon the shoulder blocking his view of her face. It was torture not being able to read her expression. Was she smiling the gentle contented smile she gets when she's finishing up a good novel; perhaps the harsh and dissatisfied grimace she wears when her eggs are soggy? He had to know, to feel out her reaction to his probing caresses, gauge the response of months of aching desire finally coming to a head. Curiosity over whelmed his nervous inhibitions.

Scorpius leaned into her; propping his elbow up beside her to grant his fervent inquisition as he peered over the gentle slope of her shoulder.

He was startled by how lovely her face looked. Eyes closed and biting her lower lip as it curved delicately into a soft smile. '_YES!'_ his mind screamed out as he studied her. He shifted closer to her, gripping her hip as he pulled himself toward her, curling himself beside her like he had dreamed of a thousand times before. The reality was so much sweeter than any dream as he settled in beside her.

He pressed his nose into the crook of her neck and breathed her in; he felt her shiver and relax into him. She turned her head to him with a serene and crooked smile gracing her lips.

This was it, this was his moment. He knew without any wavering doubt in his mind that a moment like this was not to be wasted on insecurities and fear. All he had to do was move forward; mere centimeters separated him from her slightly parted lips, the taste of her chap stick played in his memory as his mind anticipated the body's movements.

Time stretched out before him, infinite and immeasurable.

His body would not do as his mind commanded, he wanted this, he wanted her. He wanted her more than anything he could have ever fathomed wanting. She was the very definition of desire in his mind, and she was right there; calling to him with the promise of satisfied lusts.

Yet he could not move. Froze, it was as though he'd been petrified by a spell any first year can do. She was right there looking at him with eyes that beacon him to move and he could do nothing.

The quiet was filling quickly with uncomfortable tension, like a jar being slowly filled with draining sand; if he didn't move quickly he would soon be buried in the rushing discomfort of mounting tension.

He watched as she heaved a heavy sigh.

"I think my arm is really starting feel better." Rose's voice was barely above a whisper but it rang in the silence like porcelain shattering on marble floor.

"Right, of course," Scorpius muttered as he withdrew his hand from beneath her skirt with a speed more associated with burning flame than a lover's intimate touch.

Another pause settled awkwardly between them as Scorpius began shifting all the stolen healing supplies back and forth pointlessly along the bed in a futile attempt to keep his hands busy. He didn't dare open his mouth again as shame and disappointment filled him.

That was his moment, the moment he'd been telling himself for over a year that if it presented itself he would take advantage no matter what the consequences and all he had done was freeze. He was worse than a field mouse being stared down by a house cat. After moving all the contents back and forth at least three times he resolved to either become a hermit in the forbidden forest, perhaps taking on as Professor Hagrid's assistant or change his sexual preferences entire to avoid such unmitigated disasters.

"Ya know Scorp," Rose said in a perky cheery voice. He looked at her and his insides burned with humiliation at her easy tone. "You are going to make one hell of a healer one day." He tried to smile but had a suspicion that it came out little more than a grimace.

"Thanks," he replied glumly

"Let me know if you ever want to play healer and naughty assistant sometime," and without another word she slid off his bed, turning back and wicking before disappearing to the outside of his drawn curtains.

He was going to need to be alone with his _thoughts_ for a moment after that.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Yep so uhm… this is another chapter. It's another 'waiting for the skivvies to dry' chappy. Hope you peeps enjoy it YO! Review because it makes me happy. Yep that's a good reason. Tell me how it made you fell (yes lets discuss it as a group, every one gather round and let us share with one another our feelings)

Conclusions

Today had been like riding on an old Comet broom with the flying charm on the fritz; up then down then up then down. She just couldn't trust any of her own feelings anymore.

The afternoon was merely an uncomfortable blur of various awkward moments and embarrassed silences. The only bright spot was seeing Freddie at lunch covered in head to toe flashes of "Happy Birthday" When questioned as to how he got caught in his own prank he just shrugged before admitting he had been preoccupied with a certain whatever Gryffindor was his flavor of the week.

Rose waited on her bed, where she'd taken refuge immediately after classes; opting to skip dinner to avoid further humiliation. Classes were unbearable enough, but there were distractions there; course work, a new skill to master. Free time though? No she couldn't face him. Not after what he'd proved to her today.

He didn't want her, not really. Some part of him saw her yes. Any idiot could tell that last night had awakened him to the fact she was female; she wanted more though. When assaulted his physically nature took over, when given a chance to touch or be near her he had taken full advantage of the situation. She had thought she'd pass out from the sensations sent coursing through her body as he wrapped his hands around her legs, touching her in ways that were in no way innocent.

She had been elated, under the diluted impression that his feelings for her were a mirror to hers for him. Then he just froze. Nothing . She was left hanging there, the desire for his lips to move forward and discover anew the touch of skin; it was a deep ache inside her. When he saw her he stopped. When he saw her as his friend Rose, her face, he'd simply stopped.

Being an ass and thighs and breasts he could want her; but when he realized it was just Rose he'd stopped. What a fool she'd been to think that those caresses were anything more than just a man touching a woman. Captivated by passion and sensual nature; the newness of such things to the inexperienced. Not Scorpius touching Rose though. No, when he had realized _that_ he had stopped. Unable to cope with sitting by him, revising or joking as they usually would on a lazy afternoon; she just couldn't handle it.

So she'd runaway, as a petulant child would flee, she hadn't even tried to delude herself to the contrary. She wasn't crying though, Rose was intensely proud of being able to hold herself together enough to stave off the tears prickling at the back of her eyes, threatening to spill themselves upon her freckled cheeks.

No, Rose would be stronger than that. She would face the reality of her shattered hopes like the brave girl she so desperately wished she could be.

***

Agitated, aggravated, annoyed, aroused, bristled, chafed, displeased, exasperated… Scorpius lost his concentration on listing the entirety of how he was feeling in alphabetical order; the reason clear and obvious from what the list consisted of.

He uncrossed his ankle from where it was resting on his knee and shifted his weight in the stuffy arm chair he sat in. The arm chair perfectly poised so as to keep the stair case to the girls dormitory in plain sight. She had disappeared hours before without a word and he had just waited for her with an unattended text book sitting in his lap, he hadn't read a single new word since he opened it and covered the first sentence; it was just the same words over and over each time. Yet for all the gold in Gringotts he couldn't recall what it was about if questioned.

All his focus was on the opened door and the spiraling stone steps. Each time footfalls would sounds he'd glance up fervently, only to slink deeper into the worn cushion in disappointment.

His eyes flicked to the clock on the wall, half past six. She'd have to come down soon if she wanted to make it to their detention on time. The past hour had simply been a zealous countdown to their shared punishment. Never had he so eagerly awaited detention, it might have been fun to have a detention in the green houses with Rose. Rose from this morning that is he mused. This morning she had been fun and flirty, blushing in a way that made his chest swell at the pleasure of being the cause of the blood rushing to her face.

Afternoon Rose though had been quiet and sullen. Insecurity radiating from her every muscle; how could he have been so stupid? Flirting with her was fun, but that was all it was. To her it must have seemed like a new added layer to their friendship; no big deal, just make out and then tease each other about how much the other wanted them. He shouldn't have been so blinded by emotion that he didn't see she was just doing what came naturally to her, made fun of it all.

Had his almost kiss spoiled it all though? Had she realized his intention had been to do more than just rub her knee with ointment? Was she unhappy with that? Was she disgusted by the memory of his hand sliding up her thigh, encroaching upon the unforgivable recesses of his thumb grazing the inside of her panties?

Scorpius bereted himself for being such a fool; how could a girl like Rose fall for some dorky guy like him? After all she was a Weasley, the quintessential Weasley with red bouncing curls and freckles galore, brilliant and beautiful, confident and witty. He was just a Malfoy, nothing special out cast in all things Malfoy.

His thoughts swelled in agony until he saw out of the corner of his eyes the feet he'd been anticipating all evening. He almost glanced away because she wasn't wearing there ever present striped stockings but he'd know the shape of those legs anywhere. How could she get away with the travesty of covering up such perfect limbs with those lurid colors? Typically he liked the garish bright hues that were her signature but upon seeing her long legs descending the steps he knew he would curse them forever more.

She didn't look at him as she passed a group of third years playing exploding snap. It was as though she knew right where he was and avoided his gaze by purposeful design. It ripped his heart in two to realize she wasn't even going to look for him to walk down together. He watched her rush through the threshold and sharp stabs bit at him.

Then at that moment he knew it didn't matter. She would need to do a lot more than avoid his eyes to get him to stop. He couldn't go back into tortured best friend limbo. He was going for what he wanted, really truly wanted without regard for what it would mean to anyone else for the first time in his life. Rose would have to tell him she didn't want him before he would believe it.

It meant to much to him to leave it open for vague interpretation.

With that he stood up, letting his book fall onto the floor with a thud and he followed her. Because in that moment he knew that he would follow her to the ends of the world. He loved her, and he had to find out if she loved him too. He stepped into the corridor just in time to see a bushy mane of red hair rounding the corner to the staircase leading down stairs.

"Rose," he shouted fervently. When he received no response in return he simply quickened his pace forward.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: I do apologize for the incredible amount of time it's been since last updating this. It was never abandoned and I really did try and finish it; I did. I even refused to move on to other fics until it was done. Also I've learned not to post anything until it's all done. Sorry ahead of time for any grammar issues. I've gone through it but it's unbeta'd I just wanted to stinking get it posted to the PM's with "I really think you should post on this fic again" will finally stop. Lol**

"Rose" his voice rang out from behind her, again. She quickened her pace; if she could get to the tapestry at the end of this corridor she could take a short cut to the green houses, hopefully they would be doing a supervised detention so she could avoid talking to him right away. If she could just keep her traitorous mouth from betraying her for the next few hours she was confident she'd be able to bottle it all back up.

Every wayward daydream and emotion she'd let run rampant in the past 24 hours could be tightly contained back where it was before; no better than before. Because before she'd held on to a tiny nugget of hope that they could develop into something more, that hope was now entirely dead. If she could survive this evening with him she knew she could go back to the way things were, she just needed to make it to the end of the corridor before he rounded the corner.

Thank Morgana that she was unusually tall for a girl.

"Rose" his voice was right behind her.

Curses! Damn it you freakishly fast blonde git.

She stopped, her shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Scorpius we're going to be late; let's just walk there as fast as possible," she hesitated knowing this would be impossible to justify "and without talking." Then before she even looked in his direction, at what she knew would be his heartbreakingly handsome face, she began to walk again.

His hand on her shoulder forced her to stop again.

"Rose, just listen." His voice was gentle and pleading. It must be a cruel irony of fate that his heartbreaking words must come from so sweet an intonation.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, pleading with whatever deity was watching over her for strength to reject such a tempting offer.

"I'll listen if you promise not to say a word." She pleaded knowing her plead made little to no sense.

"That is the most ridiculous thing you've ever said." Scorpius chuckled a little but didn't remove his hand from her shoulder, keeping her from moving. 'Damn mutinous goose bumps; getting all prickly and tingly just because he's touching you.' She cursed sourly at herself.

"Yeah, well YOU'RE the most ridiculous thing you've ever said." Rose muttered under her breath at waves of self contempt washed over her, her traitorous body was refusing to listen to her brain and retreat.

She looked down at the red trainers on her feet, damn left shoe was untied. Damn corridor was cold, damn lack of 'awesomely charmed to keep her legs warm' tights, damn cold air that was giving her goose bumps. Wait, YES it was the cold air giving her goose bumps; that was very plausible.

Scorpius moved his hand down her arm to her elbow; damn goosebumps for ruining her only working theory.

Oh, for the love he had to know how much she liked that elbow holding thing. It was in all these old muggle black and white films that she watched with her Gran, and it was always so romantic.

"I think we should become a thing Rose." She felt her chest suddenly fill to three times its usual size with joy before all that jubilation was replaced with heavy stones that plummeted into her stomach. 'A thing'? How fucking vague can you get? She didn't want some ambiguous thing that involved, well she assumed stuff, fun stuff, stuff she really _really_ wanted to do, REALLY wanted to do but had nothing more defining them. She couldn't do that.

Actually she could, and she wanted to, even if it meant only holding onto that asinine female notion that a guy will change and grow to love her after ravenously devouring her out of sexual inexperience.

She wouldn't though; she at least had enough self preservation instinct to know she couldn't do that and make it out unscathed. She wanted it all; not just a lusty, albeit appealingly passion filled, sub version of all of it.

"That is the most ridiculous thing _you've_ ever said." Rose countered, knowing that if she didn't squash this idea of simply 'a thing' right now she might cave. She began to walk towards the green houses.

"No stop, just listen." He pulled on her elbow as she moved and she swooned a little against her will.

"I did listen and you didn't exactly say anything all that riveting." She moved to go again but he simply took a step with her and continued to hold resolutely onto her elbow.

"Well it's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to say."

'_Well that's because being fuck buddy isn't exactly conventional' _Rose thought bitterly to herself, though she remained silent.

An awkward pause hung between them and annoyance began to build inside her.

"Go on, you officially have a captive audience," yeah, she sure as hell would like to find out how he's going to word this.

"What I mean is….

"That is what I was hoping to ask you…

"I'd very much so like it if…" At Scorpius' uncharacteristic bout of stammering Rose looked up at him for the first time since he'd cornered her. He looked so lost and helpless, and despite the subject matter and the anger that had been steadily rising inside her as he spoke her heart melted at the helpless look on his face.

"Screw it," he muttered before suddenly and without warning his lips descended on her.

Warmth spread through her body as his lips parted slightly, inviting her to dance his devils dance. How was she supposed to resist this? He pulled her body into his, bending her back slightly as encircled her into his arms.

It was all wrong; wrong, wrong, wrong. As the words repeated deafeningly in her mind she cursed that she wouldn't just let herself enjoy this moment. His lips were slow and sweet in their movements and it was so easy to pretend that he meant his kisses, the feel of his warm hand at the nape of her neck holding onto her like she might slip away if he wasn't clinging to her.

Perhaps that was what gave her the strength to do what she needed to do; the panicked nature of his grasp on her reminded her that this was wrong.

He knew it too or else why would he be so desperate to hold on to her?

"Stop," she managed a barely audible plea as she dipped her head away from his inviting lips his body still painfully close to her, his arms still wrapped around her in a way that she knew would haunt her later.

"I'd really rather we didn't." he whispered back with a smile playing at the corner of his mouth, he leaned in to kiss her again but she backed away this time leaving his warm embrace only to find the air bitingly cold as it engulfed her once more.

She pressed against his chest with her hands, forcing space between them.

"It would be best if we gave each other some space for a while; just until we can put this behind us. Until we can be what we used to be." She turned away from him, feeling betrayed by the pricking behind her eyes that she knew were tears threatening to humiliate her further.

"I don't think I can do that," his admission that this was unfixable pushed her tears over the edge. How could she have been so stupid? She brought her hand to her cheeks and haphazardly brushed the tears away.

"Well I can't do this with you." she whimpered lamely and flayed her arms vaguely between the two of them.

"Do what with me? Just talk to me." His voice was soft and pleading, he placed a hand on either side of her face, holding her tenderly; trying to force her to look at him but she wouldn't, she couldn't. When she was lined up just right to look at him she clamped her eyes shut, willing the tears to just stop coming.

"Tell me what I can do to fix this. What do you want from me Rose, anything." She shook her head in his hands and wished he would just let her heart break in peace.

"You can't give me what I want Scorpius." And as abruptly as if she'd slapped him he let her go. A strained silence thundered around them as he staggered back a few steps and after a moment of awkwardness she began walking slowly away from him.

She was a few feet away before she heard his voice call after her.

"Then tell me what I can never be for you. I have to know" he voice broke and more tears spilled over Rose's eyelids. "or I'll always wonder." Why was he doing this to her? Wonder what? Does he really need to hear the words she's too in love with him to be some tawdry fling?

They were silent and unmoving for a moment then quieter he called out a final nail in her coffin. "You owe me that much, our friendship deserves at least that."

And it did.

As much as she hated him right now; he at least deserved to know why they could never be friends again. Perhaps if he knew, it would save her from him trying to make up later. If he knew what she really wanted from him it would keep him away for good.

"I want it to be real Scorpius." Surely he would let her wallow in self pity when he heard what she had to say. "I want footsies under the table and love letters that make me blush. I want cuddling and pet names that make everyone else in the room gag. I want you to look at me, and see me as more than one of the guys

"What I want, it's never going to happen. So please, just give me the time it takes to get to the greenhouse to pull myself together and I'll try to make this detention as painless for you as possible."

When nothing but a long stretch of silence met her straining ears she swallowed the hysterics that desperately wanted release and tried to think of anything but the mortification that was threatening to overwhelm her.

Just as she reached the heavy door that would grant her access to the cool fresh air she heard laughter echoing around her.

She stood at the door, sure that she couldn't possibly be hearing what her foolish brain was telling her she was hearing.

But the laughter only got louder and anger suddenly exploded into rage and she grabbed her wand from her pocket and without thinking sent a hex off in his direction.

"You heartless asshat." And a stinging jinx shot after him when he annoyingly avoided.

"Wait, stop!" he said as a third spell wizzed past him.

"I pour my soul out to you and you laugh? It's a good thing you turned me down because clearly I don't know what sort of person you really are." Angrily she shoved her wand back into her pocket; finally deciding that having to explain to the head mistress why Scorpius' manhood was no longer attached to his body wasn't worth the temporary satisfaction of removing it. She turned on her heels and began walking away as quickly as her pride would let her.

"I'm not laughing at you; I'm laughing at us, you and me, we're so stupid." He called after her but she didn't care to hear it. He wasn't making any sense and Rose hated him for not just letting this conversation die. Wouldn't it be for the best if they both just let it go and moved on?

The cool air hit her face refreshingly as she walked through the door; she savored the reprieve from Scorpius' company, even if she knows it's only for a moment. And before she wanted to, she heard him following behind her calling her name.

"Rose," she did her best to block out his repeated shouts. If she could just make it to the greenhouse she was sure she'd be safe. No one has this conversation in front of a professor.

She was almost safe inside the greenhouse before she felt his hand firmly wrap around her elbow.

"Rose please, just hear me out." He turned her towards him but she refused to look at him.

She stood arms folded defensively across her chest as her gaze shifted from one place to another, anywhere but him. A moment passed and she could see him open and close his mouth like some stupid fish from the corner of her eye.

"You've chased me down enough times tonight; say what you're inevitably going to say so we can just get to the most uncomfortable detention in the history of the world." She tried to make her voice as snarky as possible, but she heard her own voice sound tired and pathetic at the end. How ridiculous this whole thing had become.

Then suddenly he his body was against hers, warm lips pressed against her unexpectedly. This was so different than the kisses they'd shared previously, no part of her was pleading to savor the heavenly bliss that threatened to engulf her. Instead anger seethed inside her at his brazen insensitivity.

She shoved him away as forcefully as she could, which pathetically enough wasn't even a meter away. Finally she met his eyes and she watched in shock as a hand reached across the distance between them and hit his cheek with a loud smack that echoed in the silent and still night around them.

It took a sharp stinging in her hand for her brain to connect what she'd witnessed to her own actions.

She had slapped him.

From the hand shaped red mark appearing on his face she could only assume she had hit him quite hard.

Good on her then, she told herself. 'No' means 'no' doesn't it? I don't care how close of mates they were before, if he couldn't respect her wishes to be left the hell alone he deserves a good swift kick in the ass. How girl is a slap in the face though? She wished she'd hexed him, damn useless wand out of reach.

"You slapped me!" Scorpius said as he touched his cheek tentatively; almost checking it was indeed still attached.

"You kissed me!" She answered.

"That's because I'm in love with you!" He looked at the fingertips he'd just touched to his cheek before he placed them against his cheek again.

"Well you should have said something you daft buffoon? What I'm supposed to be some mind reader now!" Rose chided him, her eye brows set in a firm scowl

"You told me that you wanted this to be real!" he exclaimed, apparently finally over his shock.

"I did, which was greeted with you breaking down in hysterics at the very notion." She felt her hand move on its own accord to hover above her wand hidden inside her pocket.

"I told you I wasn't laughing _at you_, I was laughing at _us._" His attempt at explanation made her want to slap him again.

"How is you laughing at the idea of 'us' any better?" she huffed and wondered briefly if she should just kick him in the shins for good measure. When she was little she used to do that and while she'd mostly given it up this felt like the right moment to pick it back up.

"You're missing the point Rose!" he was almost shouting, leaning her closer toward the shin kicking idea. She raised her eyebrows pointedly in a way clearly meant to say _'and that would be?'_

"That I just told you I'm in love with you!" he shouted in a clear tone of exasperation.

"Yes well if you'd opened with that I probably wouldn't have slapped you." She shrugged her shoulders and looked down at the ground avoiding eye contact again.

His hand reached out to her, grabbing one of the hands folded across her chest with soft almost pleading fingertips.

"Rose, I've been in love with you for so much longer than I'm willing to admit and I just had to laugh at how stupid we are for both feeling the same way and just going around and around this ridiculous cycle. I want to be with you more than anything."

Rose looked up at him finally, willing herself not to move. If this was a dream she wanted to stay sleeping and any move she made might wake her up. His eyes were warm and one side of his mouth was turned upward in a hopeful smile.

"I want to be the one cuddling; to be able to look at you without being afraid you'll catch me staring and I would love nothing more than to write you letters, especially the sort that will make you blush." He raised his eyebrow suggestively to her and she couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up from inside of her.

"I really like to stop pretend I only think of you as one of the guys because I have never once seen you that way."

He might have gone on like that for a while, Rose didn't know, he did have the ability to go on and on. She'd never know because before another word crossed his lips Rose captured them gently with her own.

He seemed startled at first and Rose wondered for a moment if he would slap her just to even the score, but instead he wrapped his arms around her.

Kissing without a cautioning inner monologue was much more to her liking. Now when he bunched her shirt in his fist, possessively she wasn't chalking it up to passion and convincing herself it wasn't real she was able to revel in the warmth that spread throughout her entire body at his touch.

Rose slowly curled her fingers into the hair at the base of his neck and a flash of déjà vu washed over her. 24 hours before she had been pleading with him to kiss her and now here they were in the exact same situation but everything was different now. As his lips pulled her lower lip inside their inviting caress she couldn't help but smile at the way it took her breath away.

One of his hands moved down the curve of her body to grasp her backside and she almost lost her balance with how dizzyingly wonderful it felt to be held in such a way.

She softly ran her tongue across his upper lip as he kissed her and was greeted with an enthusiastic growl of appreciation.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Weasley. This is the 2nd time in just as many days I've caught you in such a position. If you don't mind your detention started 10 minutes ago and instead of simply walking the 20 meters to my door you've shouted, kissed, slapped, argued and then kissed again. Now if you don't mind I'd like to interrupt you before I really do have to contact your parents." Professor Longbottom held the greenhouse door open to the pair and Rose felt a wave of humiliation wash over her.

"You saw all that Professor?" She asked willing the answer to be different than what she knew it would be.

"You are aware Miss Weasley that the walls to a greenhouse are in fact made of glass." He rolled his eyes in exasperation and gestured for them to get inside.

Without a word Scorpius intertwined his fingers with hers and they began to walk toward detention in silence. At least the next few hours weren't going as bad as she had assumed earlier.

"Does this happen to you a lot Professor?" Scorpius asked with an air of casual indifference Rose envied.

"You have no idea Mr. Malfoy; though I must say that nothing is quite like the pair of you."

"Thank you sir." He said calmly as they passed him giving Roses hand a firm squeeze as he chanced a side glance at her.

The End

I hope that if you like this you'll subscribe as an author. I've been working on a story called "the 6 steps the Louis Weasley's happiness" which despite the title is a Rose Scorpius story. Here is an excerpt, because I'd like to have the same wonderful people who've read this one and said such nice things about this (despite my awful pregnancy timing) to read and review this upcoming one as well.

Enjoy.

Rose stepped forward with her arms folded across her body, her brow knitted together above her eyes as she began inspecting his lithe frame still fidgeting with the plant awkwardly.

"What is the proper technique for repotting dancing daffodils?" Rose demanded without any prelude or false sense of politeness. Scorpius looked startled and glanced at Professor Longbottom in a way that Louis clearly read as '_is she serious'_. Panic rose inside Louis and he could feel all his hopes and dreams of getting rid of his overprotective watchdog balanced on the unknown precipice that was Scorpius Malfoy's pop quiz skill.

Scorpius looked back at Rose; meeting her defiant expression with exasperation.

"Simply charm the new pots to play salsa music, really anything with an upbeat 8 count rhythm, but Herbologist Quarterly recently did an article about the repotting of rhythm inducing plants responding favorably to lively salsa music."

Louis could tell Rose was making an attempted at indifference and he simply beamed happily behind her back. As Scorpius began shifting the plant again Rose let out a loud huff before she threw her hands out to grasp the teetering pot balanced in Scorpius' hands and roughly guided it the mere inches it needed until it was settled firmly onto the table beside them.

"Honestly," she mumbled. She backed away from him as if just remembering herself and while only able to see the side of her face Louis could see her cheeks flushing a deep red. She looked back at Louis and her mouth moved as if she was going to say something but then closed it again without committing to anything then she turned on her heels and left with her chin raised slightly higher than usual.

An awkward silence lingered for a few moments after Rose left but was broken unceremoniously by Professor Longbottom grasping his hands together with a single loud clap.

"I'll let you two hammer out all the details with one another. Mr. Malfoy I expect to see just as satisfactory result with Mr. Weasley here as I did with Mr. Mondale." Without waiting for a response headed towards his office on the opposite end of the greenhouse.

"Don't worry, my parents will pay you whatever you charge. They've been on me about herbology for ages." Louis sauntered over to his new tutor quite pleased with himself for dodging that particular hex.

"Well in that case, uhm… would you mind clarifying which Mr. Weasley you are exactly?" Scorpius asked as he pulled a startling sized planner from his satchel. Louis gulped, _'This can't be good'_ he fretted as Scorpius thumbed through several pages.

"Louis, third year Ravenclaw."

"Well in that case Louis, how would every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 with a supplementary session Saturday afternoons if you prove especially bungling at the subject." Louis's heart sank at the prospects of spending 2 evenings a week as well as Saturdays revising his least favorite subject. He might as well have just stuck with Rose. Louis' attention was momentary distracted by Scorpius inspecting the leaves of the unfamiliar plant he'd brought with him. An idea began forming in Louis' wicked mind at exactly how to kill both his kneazles with one spell.

"Yeah that's great, I mean if you think you're girlfriend won't mind you spending all your time with a specky little 3rd year." Much to Louis' amusement Scorpius actually did a double take in his direction.

"You must have me confused with someone else; I don't have a girlfriend." Scorpius fidgeted with his ear as he said this.

"You prefer to play the field then, I get it." Louis said, in an understanding and impressed tone.

"Oh, uhm… no. I don't actually date much." Scorpius confessed as if this was some outrageous secret

Louis feigned surprise, though nothing could have been more obvious.

"Really? Wow, you sure fooled me what with that number you pulled on my cousin just then," Louis said as he grabbed his bag off the table as though to leave.

"I'm sorry," Scorpius turned quickly to face the now departing Louis. "what do you mean exactly?" Louis adjusted his weight onto his other hip and repositioned the bag slung over his shoulder.

"Come on, you don't need me to tell you how she went all pink in the face and got all dreamy eyed when you talked. I thought she was going to faint when you cunningly threw in the 'lively salsa dancing' thing. Then she just threw herself at that plant as a way to hold your hand; even for a second. Don't think I missed the way you intertwined your fingers as she grabbed at you. She practically had to run out of the room just to keep from snogging you right then."

Louis tried his best to look really impressed with Scorpius. "Perhaps you should tutor me in more than just Herbology." His own laugh sounded too bright to his own ears so he stopped quickly. "Though I doubt we'll get my parents to agree to pay for that one, eh?"

Scorpius' eyebrows pulled down in confusion.

"Actually I think you do." The look of confusion must have been evident on his face because Scorpius continued. "Tell me, that is." Scorpius seemed to be doing a complete review of the earlier encounter, comparing his own memory to the colorful spin Louis had put on it. "Do you think Rose might have feelings for me?" Louis rolled his eyes dramatically.

"It's not like Rose chats with me about her love life. I'm just telling you what I saw today." Louis shrugged noncommittally as he turned to leave again. He got a few steps towards the door before Scorpius' arms reached out and stopped him.

"What should I do?" He asked in such an excited and panicked voice Louis had to try very hard not to laugh at him.

"Last year I still thought girls were infested with wrackspurts; I'm not really going to be any help."

"What's a wrackspurt?" Scorpius asked.

"Believe me you don't want to know. I have identical best friends with very strange views on real and fictional wildlife."

"Well then I'll see you tomorrow night at 7:30 in green house three." Scorpius said distractedly without looking in Louis' direction.

Louis smiled to himself as he headed up back to the castle for lunch, as he mulled over his own genius.


End file.
